Transcriptional defense response of the soybean plant, Glycine max, in reaction to infestation by the soybean aphid, Aphis glycines

The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines), first spotted in North American fields in 2000, is a major pest of the soybean plant (Glycine max) and can cause millions of dollars in yield losses. The goal of my project was to reveal the transcriptional defense response to soybean aphids in aphid-susceptible soybean plants and aphid-resistant soybean plants with the Rag1 gene. These responses were determined by using Affymetrix GeneChip® Soybean Genome Arrays to characterize transcript levels from leaf tissue collected after one, seven, and twenty-one days of aphid infestation. In addition to the microarray analysis, a bioinformatics tool was developed to determine the relative induction of the plant hormones abscisic acid, ethylene, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid based on the transcript levels. My analysis, in conjunction with prior research, led to conclusions regarding the soybean plant\u27s defense against aphids. These include the identification of an effective defense hormone, defense compounds, and possible decoy defense strategies employed by the soybean aphid