Identification of Soybean Genes Differentially Regulated in Near Isogenic Lines Differing in Resistance to Aphid Infestation

The soybean aphid, a plant sap sucking insect, is an important soybean pest in the USA causing significant yield losses. The Rag2  gene of soybean provides resistance to soybean aphid biotypes I and II. Transcriptomic analyses were performed on near isogenic lines (NILs) with the Rag2 allele for aphid resistance or rag2 for susceptibility at the Rag2 locus. Soybeans were infested with soybean aphids and leaves were collected at 0, 4, 8, 24, and 48 hours after infestation. RNA were extracted and a high throughput RNA-seq approach was used to examine mRNA expression in Rag2 and rag2 soybean leaves. The expression of ~43,000 genes was detected in both the Rag2 and rag2 leaves. Statistical analysis identified 2361 genes significantly regulated between the resistant and susceptible lines at different times after aphid infestation. Genes found up-regulated in the Rag2 line were annotated as involved in the cell wall, secondary and hormone metabolism, as well as in stress, signaling and transcriptional responses. Genes found up-regulated in the rag2 line were annotated as involved in photosynthesis and carbon metabolism. Interestingly, mRNAs of 2 genes (unknown and mitochondrial protease) located within the Rag2 locus were expressed significantly higher in the resistant genotype. The expression of the putative NBS-LRR resistant gene present in the Rag2 locus was not different between the two soybean lines. However, another NBL-LRR gene located just at the border of the Rag2 locus was and, therefore, may be involved in the differential resistance to aphid infestation exhibited by the two NIL genotypes analyzed. Overall design: A total of 20 samples was analyzed. Two soybean genotypes, 5 time points and 2 biological replicates per condition were used.