A research team led by University of California Riverside (UCR) discovered a
protein, GroEL, from the bacteria in aphids' body cavity that induces immune
responses in plants. Aphids are devastating insect pests and harbor in their
body cavity bacteria which are important to their reproduction and survival.
The bacterium, Buchnera, cannot exist outside of the aphid. This mutually
beneficial relationship is sabotaged, however, by a bacterium found in the
aphid saliva, which likely alerts the plant about the aphid's presence.

Isgouhi Kaloshian, nematology professor and leader of the research project,
said, "It seems that the plant immune system target the bacterium and
exploits the strict mutual dependency between the plant and aphid to
recognize the aphid as the intruder." According to Kaloshian, GroEL was
known previously to trigger immunity in animals, but their finding that it
induces immunity in plants is new. He added that GroEL can be exploited to
engineer crops with durable resistance to aphids.

[ucrtoday.ucr.edu]