Genome-wide association study of aphid abundance highlights a locus affecting plant growth and flowering in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant life-history traits, such as size and flowering, contribute to shaping variation in herbivore abundance. Although plant genes involved in physical and chemical traits have been well studied, less is known about the loci linking plant life-history traits and herbivore abundance. Here, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of aphid abundance in a field population of Arabidopsis thaliana. This GWAS of aphid abundance detected a relatively rare but significant variant on the third chromosome of A. thaliana, which was also suggestively but non-significantly associated with the presence or absence of inflorescence. Out of candidate genes near this significant variant, a mutant of a ribosomal gene (AT3G13882) exhibited slower growth and later flowering than a wild type under laboratory conditions. A no-choice assay with the turnip aphid, Lipaphis erysimi, found that aphids were unable to successfully establish on the mutant. Our genome-wide association study of aphid abundance unexpectedly found a locus affecting plant growth and flowering.