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Abstract Natural host-plant resistance provides a sustainable solution to control insect outbreaks but can be limited due to insect counter-adaptation. The exact mechanisms of insect adaptation to host-plant resistance remain unclear in most systems. Some insect adaptations are controlled by epigenetic mechanisms, such as through noncoding RNA. PIWI-interacting RNAs are specific noncoding RNAs that bind with PIWI proteins to control a diverse range of gene regulatory functions, particularly in insects. Previous investigation into aphid PIWI gene copies showed expansion in their abundance compared to other insects, which may suggest PIWI genes have additional functions among aphids. We first characterized PIWI gene evolution through a phylogenetic analysis, then investigated the role of PIWIs by examining gene expression in the soybean aphid (Aphis glycines), a significant insect pest of soybean which has adapted to overcome aphid-resistance in host plants. Our data indicated the presence of three PIWI ortholog groups, as well as taxon-specific gene expansions, with gene copy numbers ranging from 3 to 17 across species. To evaluate a potential role of PIWIs in overcoming host-plant resistance, we measured their gene expression in Ap. glycines with (virulent) and without (avirulent) the ability to survive on aphid-resistant soybean. We found that virulent Ap. glycines have significantly higher expression of 2 PIWI genes (Agl1.1 and Agl1.3) compared to the avirulent biotype. These data suggest that gene regulatory mechanisms related to the PIWI pathway, potentially including piRNAs, are important in aphid systems and may enable adaptation to host-plant resistance. Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

[...]I have to revise my routines to maintain productivity. [...]most successful writers share their in-process work with others-a trusted colleague or two or even an organized writing group-and at later stages with editors and colleagues with whom they have less familiar relationships.

As the discipline of rhetoric and composition engages archival studies, we must not only theorize and narrate primary-source research, but also build archival exhibits. Describing our effort to construct a digital exhibit of primary source material relevant to the history of writing instruction at the University of Texas at Austin 1975–1995 (RhetCompUTX, rhetcomputx.dwrl.utexas.edu), we explain how this project speaks to current historiographic debates about the status and the shape of the discipline. We argue that, to make the shift towards an institutional-material perspective, historians and scholars in rhetoric and composition will need to build our own archives of primary-source material, archives that feature four types of items: items relevant to classroom practice, items documenting the institutional circumstances, items recording the disciplinary conversation, and items capturing the political situation. RhetCompUTX not only features all four types of items, but also encourages the user to see the relations among these layers of practice. By describing this exhibit, by summarizing its argument, and by explaining how we described and assembled its items, we encourage other researchers to build similar archival exhibits and to move towards institutional-material historiography.