Do bacterial symbionts play a role in insecticide resistance in a polyphagous aphid pest?

Data generated by this project will address the fundamental question of microbial influence on insecticide resistance, a question that is critical for managing resistance in current and future product deployments. Cowpea aphid is itself an important pest, and is congeneric with many other pest aphid species, many of which are infected by similar symbiont strains. Genomic and transcriptomic resources generated in this project will substantially contribute to future comparative genomic efforts, and will help elucidate the mechanisms of host plant use, particularly as influenced by bacterial symbionts.