Salivary proteins secreted by aphids during feeding play an important role in regulating the plant defense response. We used mass spectrometry to identify 155 proteins from the wheat aphid, Sitobion miscanthi, among which 44 proteins were derived from the primary symbiont, Buchnera aphidicola. GroES, which is a highly abundant molecular chaperone that binds to GroEL, was detected in saliva. In vitro injection of purified GroES protein and overexpression of GroES in wheat leaves verified that GroES induced hydrogen peroxide accumulation and callose deposition in wheat and further activated the plant salic acid and jasmonic acid defense pathways. Our findings indicate that plants may have evolved new strategies to detect aphid attack and trigger defense responses by recognizing proteins derived from B. aphidicola, which is present in almost all aphid species.
Keywords: Buchnera aphidicola; GroES; Sitobion miscanthi; defense response; salivary protein.