SIEVE ELEMENT-LINING CHAPERONE 1 restricts aphid feeding on Arabidopsis during heat stress ($)

Aphids are major pests that damage plants by sucking out phloem sap and as by acting as vectors in transmission of more than 300 different viruses. Kloth et al. used a high-throughput method involving video-tracking of aphid behavior on leaf discs to score 350 Arabidopsis accessions for aphid resistance. They then used genome-wide association mapping to identify a gene that affects aphid feeding behavior. SLI1 encodes a small heat-shock protein of unknown function.  Expression of SLI1 is negatively correlated with the duration of phloem feeding, indicating that it has a resistance effect. The authors propose that SLI1 restricts phloem sap flow (and feeding) by increasing the firmness and thickness of the parietal layer between the ER and the plasma membrane.  SLI1 also enhances heat tolerance. Plant Cell 10.1105/tpc.16.00424