Scottish scientists are a key part of the team that is publishing the completed genome of the pea aphid...one of a family of small, plant-eating insects that do damage to food crops around the world estimated in billions of dollars worldwide.

Watch the story as reported on STV News.

Researchers at SCRI in Dundee are now analysing the research to try to understand aphids bewildering sex life...which means they can reproduce together as male and female...or on their own!

Aphids – known commonly as greenflies to most people who have experienced them ruining pot plants or garden vegetables – are a major problem for farmers as they can destroy crops and spread viruses.

Such is their potential impact on mankind that the US National Human Genome Research Institute agreed to fund a project to sequence the genome of the aphid in an effort to find out more about it and develop new ways of tackling it.

Work to annotate the aphid genome sequence has taken two years and a major international effort by teams across the globe whose work is published in PLOS Biology on Tuesday 23 February 2010.

At SCRI Dr Brian Fenton obtained funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh in order to investigate the special reproductive capabilities of aphids in collaboration with laboratories in France and the USA. The aphids ability to reproduce asexually is the reason numbers increase so rapidly during the summer.

Dr Fenton and his team discovered that many of the genes that enable asexual reproduction had made extra copies of themselves. The next stage of the research will be to understand why and to identify new processes and pathways which could be used for new methods of controlling these pests.

“Unlocking the aphid genome sequence is another step in tackling these destructive pests,” said Dr Fenton. “Once we gain a better understanding of how they can reproduce so quickly we can hopefully develop novel methods of controlling them and reducing the damage they cause to crops.”

Notes to editors

The paper ‘The International Aphid Genomics Consortium (2010) Genome Sequence of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum’ is published in PLoS Biology 8(2):e1000313 (doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000313).

More information from:

Phil Taylor, Head of Communications, SCRI, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA. Tel: 01382 560044 (direct line), Mobile: 07810 860 701 or

Lorraine Wakefield, Information and Online Service Officer, SCRI, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA. Tel: 01382 560047 (direct line) or 562731 (switchboard).