Aphids cost US agriculture billions of dollars/year in yield losses and costs of pesticide application used in aphid control. In recent years, the soybean aphid has been a serious problem for Iowa soybean producers. The goal of this project is to develop new biotechnology tools to manage aphids. The research team will establish the soybean response to soybean aphid infestation. The research group will use microarray analysis of gene expression changes to identify specific plant genes that are turned on, or off, in response to aphid infestation. The researchers will also search for soybean aphid viruses that could be used for biocontrol and/or transgenic aphid resistance. This project...