A new database of 19 insect genomes covering some of the world's most destructive pests has become available to better target crop protection.
It covers some of the most common pest threats faced by UK farmers, including nematodes, cabbage stalk fleas and pollen beetles, as well as other globally important species.
It is hoped that the new database will help accelerate the development of novel pest management methods that can overcome resistance and create more nature-friendly crop protection solutions.
The four-year pest genome project was developed by Rothamsted Research in partnership with agribusiness Syngenta and Bayer.
They say their efforts will help develop more species-specific products and overcome the problem of drug resistance.
Non-chemical pest control methods could also be developed, such as the manipulation of B. insect behavior; the focus is on controlling the genes of how insects find mates and host plants, keeping them away from crops.
The initiative will also help develop insecticides that are less likely to cause resistance in target species - a major problem for farmers and a cause of their overuse.
Before the researchers got to work, detailed genomes had been assembled for a fraction of the more than 1 million insect species on Earth, and even fewer for plant pests.
Professor Linda Field of Rothamsted, who co-led the study, said farming in the future would be "smarter" and use fewer pesticides.
“Currently as much as a fifth of all crops are lost globally to pests, and this is predicted to increase to 25% under climate change," she said.
"Whilst non-chemical control methods can have some success in reducing crop losses, pesticides remain a necessary weapon in our fight against devastating crop losses and will so for the foreseeable future.”
By compiling a detailed genome "map" of these annotated sequences, the researchers say they will begin to develop the next generation of insecticides -- ones that specifically target pests without harming other species.
All of the initiative's pests are known to attack important crops worldwide, including oilseeds, vegetables, grains, fruits, pulses, sugar and cotton.
It is hoped that with the availability of these higher-order genomes, researchers can better understand how resistance to insecticides arises.
“Understanding the pests’ genes means we can understand the specific proteins they make," said Professor Field.
"By comparing these proteins to the proteins made by non-target species, we can tailor control methods that only work on pests. Examples include those proteins that allow pests to de-toxify pesticides, the basis of much evolved resistance.”
Another area of research will look at genes involved in insect behavior, called odorant-binding proteins and receptors, which allow insects to find mates or host plants. She added.
“If we can produce products that target those, we can potentially manipulate pest behaviour and shepherd them away from the crops.”
Another use of these genome sequences is to identify insect species that have the potential to switch diets to other crops - something that could become a problem in some countries if pests migrate or new crops are planted as climate changes.
The genome will also be an important resource for the wider entomological community to study insect evolution, physiology, biochemistry and ecology.
Comments