A Dual RNA-Seq Analysis Revealed Dynamic Arms Race during the Infestation of Wheat by the English Grain Aphid (<i>Sitobion avenae</i>)

<i>Sitobion avenae</i> is an important pest that threatens the safety of wheat production in China. However, the resistance mechanisms of wheat to <i>S. avenae</i> are not well understood at present. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of interaction between wheat and <i>S. avenae</i> at four infestation time points (6, 24, 48, and 72 hpi) using a high-resolution time series dual transcriptomic analysis. The results showed that plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways were significantly activated in the wheat spike of Lunxuan144 during <i>S. avenae</i> infestation. Meanwhile, the functional analysis of the <i>S. avenae</i> transcriptome revealed that some secretory proteins participated in wheat-<i>S. avenae</i> interaction. This study sheds light on the arms race process between <i>S. avenae</i> and wheat, laying the foundation for the green prevention of <i>S. avenae</i> and providing a theoretical basis for mining the key functional genes in both wheat and <i>S. avenae</i>.