Comprehensive full-Length transcriptomic resource for wing dimorphism in English green aphid, Sitobion avenae.

Abstract

The English green aphid, Sitobion avenae, a major pest of wheat, exhibits classical wing dimorphism. To support research and data sharing on the molecular basis of this trait, we generated full-length transcriptomes from three different developmental stages of winged and wingless morphs using PacBio SMRT and Illumina HiSeq sequencing platforms. The dataset comprises 2,309,013 circular consensus sequences (CCSs), with 85.29% identified as full-length non-chimeric reads (FLNC) reads after filtering. Approximately 282 Gb of PacBio subreads were obtained, with a total of 125,495,799 reads. Functional annotation was performed for 43,219 transcripts (44.3%). Across the developmental stages, differential expression analyses revealed numerous genes with varied expression patterns, with 71 genes identified as potential regulators of wing polymorphism. These candidates are associated with biological processes such as wing development, hormone biosynthesis, energy metabolism, and cell death pathways. This dataset provides a comprehensive molecular resource for investigating the transcriptional basis of wing polyphenism in aphids and may offer insights applicable to other insect systems.