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Welcome to our USDA-NIFA-SCRI funded research project on the woolly apple aphid.
Eriosoma lanigerum, aka the woolly apple aphid (WAA), is native to Eastern North America where it typically feeds on native hardwood trees. When apples were introduced from Europe, the WAA switched hosts and has been a perennial pest in orchards for over 100 years. WAA is now globally distributed and represents a significant challenge to apple production and export. Management of WAA has relied on rootstock resistance to minimize perpetual below ground populations and chemical or biological control to reduce seasonal above ground colonies. However, this resistance is breaking down as WAA adapt to their environment or as new WAA genotypes are introduced to growing regions around the world. Our project seeks to understand how WAA adapts to apple cultivars and what growing regions can do to prevent this adaptation to sustain efficient production. |
2023 Update
Objective 1, to identify gene presence and expression in our resistance breaking population, is completed and we are transitioning into sample processing.
Objective 2, to look for this genotype across the US, is in its final year of sampling.
Object 3, to link aphid molecules to their targets in apple, is half way complete, with the lab bench pipeline developed and trialed on known aphid effectors.
Objective 2, to look for this genotype across the US, is in its final year of sampling.
Object 3, to link aphid molecules to their targets in apple, is half way complete, with the lab bench pipeline developed and trialed on known aphid effectors.
