Pea Aphid Survival Assays on Arabidopsis thaliana

Materials and Reagents

1. 3 to 4-week-old Vicia faba plants grown in 14 h light (18 °C)/10 h dark (15 °C)
   
2. 7-week-old Arabidopsis plants grown in a short day condition (10 h light/14 h dark (22 °C)
   
3. Pea Aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) maintained on Vicia faba plants grown in 14 h light (18 °C)/10 h dark (15 °C)
   

Equipment

1. Plant growth facilities
   
2. Insect-proof cage to contain Vicia faba plants (Note 1)
   
3. Petri dish
   
4. Moist artist’s paintbrush (size 2 or 4)
   
5. Clip cages (Figure 1)
   
6. Plant labels
   
7. Marker pen
   
   
   Figure 1. Clip cage. Composed of a metal double prong hair clip (50 mm long), two pieces of plastic tube (10 and 5 mm high, 2 mm thick, 25 mm diameter), two circles of felt (25 mm diameter, 4 mm across, 1 mm thick), and two pieces of fine gauze (25 mm diameter). The hair clip is heated and pushed into the plastic tubes. The felt and gauze are attached with superglue. Scale bar = 5 mm
   

Software

1. Microsoft^® Excel

Procedure