Grants and Contracts Details
Description
The corn rootworm complex is a serious pest of Midwest corn crops, with an estimated annual
economic impact >$1 billion. The two primary rootworm pests in the Corn Belt are the western corn
rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera Leconte and the northern corn rootworm (NCR),
Diabrotica barberi Smith & Lawrence. Both of these species are univoltine and undergo an obligate
embryonic diapause to survive winter conditions and synchronize their life cycles with their food
source. Despite the central role of diapause in the rootworm life cycle, the underlying mechanisms
of diapause in this species complex have not been investigated. Our project will fill this gap by
identifying and characterizing genes that regulate diapause in both WCR and NCR. This information
will benefit industry by facilitating the creation of nondiapausing rootworm strains and
providing new targets for pest control. Our project will identify targets that can be mutated
(e.g., with CRISPR/Cas9) to create rootworm strains that avert diapause. Currently, a
nondiapausing strain of NCR is unavailable, and the widely used WCR lab strain took several years
of mass selection to create. The ability to create nondiapausing strains through
genetic manipulation would allow for the rapid, cost-effective creation of genetically
distinct lab populations for testing bioactives. Furthermore, the ability to genetically or
chemically manipulate diapause as a pest control strategy holds great promise, but these approaches
have not been pursued in rootworms due to the current lack of information on diapause in this
complex. Finally, this project will create the first comprehensive transcriptomic database for NCR
(to our knowledge) and will add to the growing genetic resources for WCR
Status | Finished |
---|---|
Effective start/end date | 1/1/19 → 3/1/20 |
Funding
- University of Florida: $82,500.00
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