Transcriptome of maize inbred line W22 during a time course of aphid feeding

Insect feeding on maize (Zea mays) leaves induces a variety of defense responses, including metabolite and gene expression changes. Piercing-sucking insects such as Rhopalosiphum maidis (corn leaf aphid) cause relatively little damage when they are consuming sap from phloem sieve elements, but nevertheless induce plant defense responses. To identify genes that undergo transcriptional changes after aphid treatment, we performed an induction assay over a period of 24h. The transcript levels of maize leaves from inbred line W22 were profiled by Illumina 3-RNAseq after 0h, 2h, 8h and 24h of R. maidis feeding.