DEVELOPING A GENOME-SCALE ASSAY TO PROBE THE EXPRESSION RESPONSE OF PHYLLOXERA (DAKTULOSPHAIRA VITIFOLIAE FITCH)-INDUCED ROOT GALLS OF VITIS SSP.

Grape phylloxera (Daktulosphaira vitifoliae Fitch, Homoptera: Phylloxeridae) a global pest feed and induce galls on roots and leaves of susceptible varieties of Vitis ssp. causing tremendous damage in viticulture. Genomic approaches to understand the expression of genes that provide data on the physiological networks and signaling behind insect induced gall formation in plants are scarce. With the sequencing of the Vitis genome studies of the phylloxera – Vitis interaction provide an opportunity to understand how host plant genetics affects fundamental sink-source relationships, plant-based defense responses and susceptibility to galling insects using microarray or qPCR approaches. Here, we introduce a newly designed microarray of the rootstock Teleki 5C (V. berlandieri × V. riparia) by using the well-established Agilent platform and provide a robust analysis method to determine differential gene expression.