Location: Southern Insect Management Research
Project Number: 6066-22000-091-001-N
Project Type: Non-Funded Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Apr 1, 2017
End Date: Mar 31, 2022
Objective:
Genetic analysis of Helicoverpa armigera, old world bollworm (OWB), populations to estimate population genetics parameters and allele frequencies of loci responsible for resistance to chemical and biological insecticides.
Approach:
Old world bollworm (OWB) larvae and adults will be collected from field locations in Udaipur and Banswara in the state of Rajasthan, India. Adult males will be collected using pheromone traps and the larvae will be collected from crop fields (corn, pigeon pea, chick pea, and soybean). Field collected larvae will be reared in laboratory and the adults will be used to extract genomic DNA. The genomic DNA will be used to prepare high-throughput genome sequencing libraries for targeted enrichment of genetic loci associated with resistance to Bacillus thruringiensis crystalline toxins (Bt toxins) Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab as well as receptors for all major classes of insecticides. Indexed genomic libraries from individual insects will be pooled to obtain nucleotide sequence data from enriched genomic loci by sequencing with Illumina MiSeq. Nucleotide sequence data will be used to identify mutations that may confer resistance to Bt toxins and chemical insecticides. Bioassays of field collected insects will be used to establish baseline susceptibility to Bt toxins and insecticides.
