*Corresponding author: w.xu@murdoch.edu.au

Wheat stands as one of the primary and widely cultivated cereal crops, valued for its high nutritional content, richness, and adaptability as a staple food, playing a crucial role in ensuring global food security and nutritional stability. However, various abiotic and biotic stresses pose threats to global wheat production, with particular concern for the Russian wheat aphid (RWA, Diuraphis noxia), an invasive insect pest that causes significant risk to the industry.

Due to its rapid breeding, wide distribution, and ability to feed on a diverse range of host plants, RWA collectively poses a significant challenge to control. RWA was recently introduced to Australia, and subsequently, its distribution spread across all states, including major wheat-growing areas. Hence, it is essential to explore the key aspects involved in managing this pest. Development of RWA resistant wheat varieties is considered as the most efficient and sustainable approach to manage infestations of the RWA.

Furthermore, it serves as a cost-effective and eco-friendly strategy, integral to integrated pest management.

Although different RWA-resistant genetic loci have been identified in various regions globally, the specific causal genes and corresponding mechanisms for resistance have not yet been determined or introduced into Australian commercial wheat varieties. Understanding the activation of defense mechanisms and signaling pathways triggered by RWA feeding in wheat plant tissues can aid in investigating molecular level responses and identifying resistance genes; however, this information remains relatively unexplored.

This project will first determine the biology, performance, and population dynamics of RWA in the local environment. Furthermore, the investigation of wheat plant metabolic responses and defense mechanisms against RWA attack will be conducted, with a focus on the molecular pathways responsible for RWA resistance in wheat.

The project will advance our knowledge of wheat resistance mechanisms to RWA and sustain food security by genetic improvement of RWA resistant in wheat.