Breaking the wall between cereal aphids: unveiling their distribution, virulence and wheat inducible biochemical responses upon infestation

Abstract Cereal aphids, including the Russian wheat aphid, Diuraphis noxia , English grain aphid, Sitobion avenae , the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum , and the bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi , co-exist in the field and form an aphid complex that reduces wheat (or other cereal crops, like barley) yield and affects grain quality, leading to increased food-security challenges. Many studies conducted over the past decade have shown the morphological, phenotypical, physiological and biochemical responses of wheat to individual aphid infestation or two aphid infestations at a time. Therefore, this literature review consolidates the distribution of all four well-studied cereal aphids and the phenotypic, biochemical, and physiological responses of cereal crops to their infestation. The resistant wheat cultivars respond to aphid infestation by reprogramming physiological and biochemical processes, thereby suppressing the levels of carbohydrates, amino acids, and proteins that provide aphids with good nutrition. Additionally, cell wall reinforcement, defence-related proteins, and metabolites with antixenosis and antibiosis properties increased during the interaction between wheat and cereal aphids. This literature review offers insights into reprogramming biochemical and physiological processes in aphid-infested wheat, which can lead to new biochemical strategies for protecting wheat and managing individual cereal aphid species or aphid complexes commonly found in the field.