The genome sequence of the grape phylloxera provides insights into the evolution, adaptation, and invasion routes of an iconic pest.

Background: Although native to North America, the invasion of the aphid-like grape phylloxera Daktulosphaira vitifoliae across the globe altered the course of grape cultivation. For the past 150 years, viticulture relied on grafting-resistant North American Vitis species as rootstocks, thereby limiting genetic stocks tolerant to other stressors such as pathogens and climate change. Limited understanding of the insect genetics resulted in successive outbreaks across the globe when rootstocks failed.

Insect Mouthpart Transcriptome Unveils Extension of Cuticular Protein Repertoire and Complex Organization.

Insects have developed intriguing cuticles with very specific structures and functions, including microstructures governing their interactions with transmitted microbes, such as in aphid mouthparts harboring virus receptors within such microstructures. Here, we provide the first transcriptome analysis of an insect mouthpart cuticle ("retort organs" [ROs], the stylets' precursors). This analysis defined stylets as a complex composite material.

Bacteriocyte Reprogramming to Cope With Nutritional Stress in a Phloem Sap Feeding Hemipteran, the Pea Aphid .

Nutritional symbioses play a central role in the ability of insects to thrive on unbalanced diets and in ensuring their evolutionary success. A genomic model for nutritional symbiosis comprises the hemipteran , and the gamma-3-proteobacterium, , with genomes encoding highly integrated metabolic pathways. feeds exclusively on plant phloem sap, a nutritionally unbalanced diet highly variable in composition, thus raising the question of how this symbiotic system responds to nutritional stress.