Whole genome bisulfite sequencing data of Russian wheat aphid biotypes US-RWA1 (co-fed), US-RWA2 (co-fed) and US-RWA2 (isolated)

The aim for this study was to compare the differences in the methylome of three Russian wheat aphid populations that differ in virulence and bacterial load. Differences in the methylome of US Russian wheat aphid biotype 2 (US-RWA2) that have undergone removal of their phytobiomes through isolation of newly born nymphs from their mothers compared to nymphs who stayed in close proximity to their progenitors. US-RWA1 is the least virulent biotype and US-RWA2 is the most virulent biotype. The isolated US-RWA2 population (with a reduced bacterial load) has been shown to be less virulent than the co-fed population (Luna et al., 2018). The corresponding two methylomes were then compared to the methylome of US Russian wheat aphid biotype 1 (US-RWA1 is less virulent than US-RWA2) to ascertain the contribution (or lack thereof) of the phytobiome in regards to the increased/decreased virulence of phytobiome present and absent aphids. We investigated the overall, genic, intergenic, exonic and intronic methylation - as well as genic and intergenic hemimethylation -all three available contexts ( CpG, CHG and CHH) through use of the Bismark pipeline. These findings were used to ascertain to what effect the phytobiome (bacterial load) had on methylation within the US Russian wheat aphid biotypes. Overall design: Compare the methylation from three pooled sample (of 100 aphids) each of three Russian wheat aphid population (US-RWA1 (co-fed); US-RWA2 (co-fed); US-RWA2 (isolated))