Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research
Project Number: 8062-30400-001-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Oct 1, 2025
End Date: Sep 30, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1. Curate and expand the ARS collection of entomopathogenic fungal cultures for research, industrial, and commercial uses (non-hypothesis driven).
Sub-objective 1.1. Continue the curation and operation of the ARSEF culture collection and associated metadata and information resources. (Bushley)
Sub-objective 1.2. Expand the ARSEF collection through isolation and accession of new fungal strains and invertebrate hosts and improve methods to culture and preserve these fungi. (Bushley)
Sub-objective 1.3. Dissect the ecology, host-interactions, chemistry, systematics, organismal biology, and population and comparative genomics of entomopathogenic fungi. (Bushley and vacant)
Objective 2: Develop new or improved monitoring and management tools and knowledge to control insects, plant-pathogenic nematodes, and their vectored plant pathogens using biological control and advanced molecular approaches.
Sub-objective 2.1. Identify secondary metabolite biosynthetic clusters (SMBCs) and genes encoding secreted metabolites or enzymes that kill or decrease reproduction of cyst nematodes (Bushley)
Sub-objective 2.2. Identify RNAi targets and novel delivery methods for wood-boring and phloem-feeding insects. (Bushley and vacant)
Sub-objective 2.3. Document woolly apple aphid (WAA) performance on apple rootstocks and identify salivary effector proteins. (vacant and Heck)
Sub-objective 2.4. Identify psyllid genes involved in CLas transmission using genome wide association studies (GWAS) Heck
Sub-objective 2.5. Characterization of aphid genes and ISVs involved in polerovirus transmission (Heck and vacant)
Objective 3: Integrate pest management tools into systems-based approaches.
Sub-objective 3.1. Bolstering emerging pest preparedness (vacant)
Sub-objective 3.2. Develop entomopathogenic fungi as a versatile platform for biotechnology (vacant)
Sub-objective 3.3. Development of symbiont technology and evaluation of it for HLB control (Heck)
Sub-objective 3.4. Grove-First evaluation of injectable therapies to control HLB (Heck)
Approach:
Invasive species, including arthropods, pathogens and nematodes, cause economic losses in agricultural productivity due to plant disease and irreversible damage to natural areas and ecosystem services. Our long-term objective is to decipher the molecular, ecological and phylogenetic mechanisms regulating arthropod-microbe-plant interactions that lead to plant health decline and disease. This information is critical to develop management tools to improve plant health. Research will focus on invasive and native a) cyst-forming nematodes; b) wood-boring beetles in the order Coleoptera; and c) insects in the order Hemiptera that transmit microbes to plants. Results are expected to reveal novel mechanisms underlying significant agricultural challenges such as citrus greening disease, cotton leafroll dwarf disease, potato leaf roll disease, ash decline and potato and soybean cyst nematode infestation. The research offers the potential for highly targeted control strategies for interfering with infection ecology, including blocking very specific molecular events regulating pathogen transmission or insect survival using a combination of conventional and advanced biotechnological approaches. Delivery of such control strategies will reduce the reliance on broad-spectrum pesticides and provide solutions that are compatible and synergistic with biological control methods. The discovery of approaches that block pathogen acquisition and transmission components in planta or in the insect will have practical applications for growers and producers by providing new targets for disease and vector management. In support of this work and that of others, our project also maintains the ARS Collection of Entomopathogenic Fungal Cultures (ARSEF), an international resource for the discovery of novel insect biocontrol agents and metabolites that interfere with pathogen transmission or otherwise have economic relevance. ARSEF activities include accession, distribution, permanent storage, characterization, and identification of these fungi, together with research on their isolation, maintenance, preservation, and systematics to meet the needs of a global customer base.