Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Wertheim cung cấp cho các bạn kiến thức về ngành y đề tài: The pea aphid genome sequence brings theories of insect defense into question. | Elsik Genome Biology 2010 11 106 http 2010 11 2 106 w Genome Biology RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT L__ The pea aphid genome sequence brings theories of insect defense into question Christine G Elsik Abstract The genome sequence of the pea aphid is the first for a basal hemimetabolous insect and provides insights into developmental plasticity symbiosis and insect immunity. The pea aphid life cycle The ecology physiology and evolution of the hemipteran insect pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum has been well studied because of its fascinating phenotypic plasticity its heritable symbiotic associations and its impact on agriculture. Aphids are soft-bodied sap-feeding insects that act as vectors for plant viruses and cause worldwide crop damage. Sequencing and analysis of the pea aphid genome by the International Aphid Genomics Consortium IAGC 1 has provided new insights into aphid development and their interactions and coevolution with obligate and facultative symbiotic bacteria. Among the studies enabled by the genome project is the characterization of genes involved in the pea aphid immune and defense systems published in this issue of Genome Biology 2 . The genome of the pea aphid is the first to be sequenced of the hemimetabolous group of insects characterized by life cycles with incomplete metamorphosis from juvenile to adult stages. The annual aphid life cycle is particularly interesting because it includes a single sexual generation that alternates with several consecutive all-female parthenogenic generations reviewed in 3 . The sexual males and females mate in the autumn producing diapausing eggs that overwinter and hatch in the spring to produce the first all-female generation. The reduction division of meiosis I does not occur in the asexual females allowing parthenogenesis. The embryos develop within their asexual mothers and can even contain Correspondence ce75@ Department of Biology Georgetown University 37th and O Streets
