The ability to manipulate ROS metabolism in pepper may affect aphid virulence.

has severe economic impact on pepper () cultivation. Previously, we identified two populations of , NL and SW, that were avirulent and virulent, respectively on accession PB2013071. The transcriptomics approach used in the current study, which is the first study to explore the pepper-aphid interaction at the whole genome gene expression level, revealed genes whose expression is differentially regulated in pepper accession PB2013071 upon infestation with these populations. The NL population induced ROS production genes, while the SW population induced ROS scavenging genes and repressed ROS production genes. We also found that the SW population can induce the removal of ROS which accumulated in response to preinfestion with the NL population, and that preinfestation with the SW population significantly improved the performance of the NL population. This paper supports the hypothesis that can overcome the resistance in accession PB2013071 probably because of its ability to manipulate plant defense response especially the ROS metabolism and such ability may benefit avirulent conspecific aphids.