ARS | Publication request: USING NUTRITION-BASED DIFFERENTIAL GENE EXPRESSION TO OPTIMIZE DIETS

Submitted to: University of Missouri Life Sciences Week
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: February 18, 2003
Publication Date: March 3, 2003
Citation: COUDRON, T.A., YOCUM, G.D., BRANDT, S.L. Using Nutrition-Based Differential Gene Expression to Optimize Diets. UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI LIFE SCIENCES WEEK. 2003. Available from: http://lsrdb.missouri.edu/cgi-bin/searchsortlsrdb.cgi

Technical Abstract: The primary obstacle to the increased use of insect natural enemies for biological control is the difficulty and expense of rearing high quality insects in sufficient numbers for field release. An optimized artificial diet could greatly decrease production costs by eliminating the labor and expense associated with rearing host organisms. The recent development of nutrigenomics holds the promise of providing valuable information about the impact of nutrition on a wide range of biochemical parameters by investigating how nutrition alters global gene expression patterns. An insect-free zoophytogenous diet has been formulated which supports the continuous rearing of Perillus bioculatus, an effective natural predator commonly known as the two spotted stink bug. However, the diet has not been optimized for this insect. Recent findings have demonstrated that molecular markers may serve as early indicators of the response of this insect to different nutritional changes and that these markers could be used to guide efforts to improve the formulation of insect diets.