Location: Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory
Project Number: 8042-30400-003-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Oct 26, 2025
End Date: Sep 30, 2030
Objective:
Objective 1: Discover, characterize, develop and/or promote field adoption of pheromones and other behavior-modifying semiochemicals of key insect pests of urban agriculture, such as leaf beetles, true bugs, and spotted wing drosophila.
Sub-objective 1.A: Discover, develop and deploy semiochemicals as pest management tools such as traps, trap-crops, and attract-and-kill methods, for leaf beetle (chrysomelid) and true bug pests of vegetables.
Sub-objective 1.B: Develop natural product-based formulations including attractants and repellents/toxicants for effective management of spotted-wing drosophila.
Sub-objective 1.C: Develop natural product-based formulations including attractants and repellents/toxicants for effective management of cotton seed bug.
Objective 2: Characterize and evaluate native and non-native biological control agents for management of key insect pests of urban agriculture, including true bugs and leaf beetles, especially for season-extension environments and small farms.
Objective 3: Decipher genomes and the biochemical and molecular processes of invasive insect pests such as true bugs and moths to mitigate damage by crop and landscape pests.
Sub-objective 3.A: Sequence, assemble, annotate, characterize, and compare reference-quality genomes for hemipteran insect pests.
Sub-objective 3.B: Harness comparative transcriptomics to identify knockdown gene targets specific to major agricultural and landscape pest insects.
Objective 4: Discover and develop microbial and molecular-based biopesticide agents for control of invasive insect pests such as true bugs, leaf beetles, and moths.
Sub-objective 4.A: Discover and characterize insecticidal activity of bacteria and their toxins or associated natural products.
Sub-objective 4.B: Discover new baculovirus-based biopesticide agents for control of invasive forest and crop insect pests.
Sub-objective 4.C: Determine the effect of virus-virus interaction on baculovirus production and insecticidal efficacy.
Sub-objective 4.D: Develop new dsRNA-based molecular biopesticides targeting (a) Hemipteran (spotted lanternfly and stink bug) and (b) Lepidopteran (European spongy moth and flighted spongy moth complex) insect pests.
Approach:
The project brings together a research team with diverse expertise for multiple approaches to insect management. The project will focus on control of key insect pests with an emphasis on small farms, urban gardens and landscapes, both organic and nonorganic. Biobased integrated pest management approaches to be developed will include:
· discovery and deployment of natural insect attractants and repellents;
· conservation and augmentation of beneficial insects;
· genomic and transcriptomic approaches to determine critical pest critical pest genes for use as genetic targets for biological or molecular RNAi-based pesticides or other gene-based methods;
· pest-specific microbial controls [bacteria (including Bacillus thuringiensis strains and Chromobacterium spp.) and baculoviruses];
Research will target insect pests that cause major damage to key crops such as cucurbits and cole crops, although other important crops such as cotton, small fruit, beans, and potatoes may receive attention for specific problems. Research will also include insect pests that cause major damage to woody plants in the urban landscape. The combination of semiochemical approaches, biological (including microbial) controls, and molecular techniques, will offer a range of non-chemical tactics useful to integrated pest management strategies for major pests in small farms, urban gardens and landscapes.