Diuraphis noxia strain:RWA2 Genome sequencing and assembly

Diuraphis noxia Kurdjumov, AKA “Russian wheat aphid”, is a major pest of wheat and barley throughout the semi-arid climatic regions of world. This phytotoxic aphid damages cereals and wild grasses during feeding by inducing red and white leaf streaking, leaf rolling, plant stunting and death. Such damage causes over $100 million in yield losses annually in the United States alone. This genome sequencing project was undertaken to aid in the development of a phytotoxic aphid model that will lead to an understanding of how this aphid overcomes resistance genes in wheat, how new virulent biotypes evolve, how phytotoxic aphid-plant interactions progress, and how genomic structure and content differs among aphids differing in host associations, as well as provide new approaches for aphid control.