Transcriptome sequencing of aphids- Myzus persicae and Lipaphis erysimi

Aphids, are considered to be the most destructive pest. Myzus persicae (Sulz.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), being a generalist aphid, has the ability of infesting a huge number of host plants while Lipaphis erysimi (Kalt.) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), a specialist aphid, have a restricted host-range among the members of Brassicacea family. Both of them can colonize on Brassica juncea and at the time of feeding, aphids release saliva into the host plant that contains salivary proteins known as effectors. These effectors can facilitate the process of feeding and/or modulate host response against herbivory. We conducted a comprehensive study to analyse the overall differences between these two types of aphids at transcriptomic level. We generated transcriptome assemblies of both the species and identified unigenes involved in important processes such as host recognition, plant cell wall degradation, detoxification, digestion and metabolism. We further studied differential gene expression of these unigenes between the generalist and specialist aphid at adult and nymph stage to understand the variations among these two species. Further mining of transcriptome of both species led to the identification of putative effectors.