Project description:The response of kiwifruit vine (Actinidia chinensis 'Hort16A') canes to feeding by the armoured scale insect Hemiberlesia lataniae was tested by screening RNA extracted from bark against a cDNA library of 17,512 unigenes. Substantial transcriptional changes were noted after 7 days for approximately 30% of the ESTs. Transcripts associated with photosynthesis were down-regulated and those associated with secondary metabolism up-regulated. A large number of transcripts orthologous with defence-related genes were differentially expressed including several orthologous with resistance and pathogenesis. This is the first such analysis of changes to transcript expression in a plant challenged by feeding by insects from the family diaspididae.
