The structural sheath protein of aphids is required for phloem feeding

Aphids produce two types of saliva that mediate their interactions with plants. Watery saliva is secreted during cell penetration and ingestion, whereas gel saliva is secreted during stylet movement through the apoplast where it forms a sheath around the stylet to facilitate penetration and seal puncture sites on cell membranes. In order to study the function of the sheath when aphids interact with plants, we used RNA interference (RNAi) to...