Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit
Project Number: 2072-30400-001-018-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2026
End Date: May 31, 2027
Objective:
Spotted lanternfly (SLF), native to Asia, has spread to 18 U.S. states since its detection in 2014, threatening more than 100 plant species, including grapes and fruit trees. In Pennsylvania alone, its economic impact could reach $8 million. Current control strategies primarily rely on chemical insecticides.
Box tree moth (BTM), first detected in New York in 2021, damages boxwood, valued at $141 million annually, with most of the crop coming from Oregon ($27 million), is the leading broadleaf evergreen shrub in the U.S. nursery industry which exceeds $5.2 billion yearly. It has since spread across multiple states, with current control efforts dependent on broad-spectrum insecticides.
The project specific objective is to identify bioactive peptides for the development of biologically based, target-specific pest management strategies for SLF and BTM.
Approach:
1. Identification of Bioactive Peptides targeting SLF: SLF CAPA-R will be functionally expressed in Sf9 insect cells and characterized using natural ligands. To screen for SLF-specific bioactive peptides, we will express SLF CAPA-R in Sf9 cells using a phage-displayed peptide library and perform bio panning to identify potential ligands.
2. Identification of Bioactive Peptides targeting SLF: The BTM CAPA-R will also be functionally expressed in Sf9 cells and used to identify bioactive peptides following the same methodology described above.
3. Design and Synthesis Peptides for SLF and BTM: Bioactive peptide candidates targeting SLF and BTM will be structurally modified to enhance stability and bioactivity. Cyclization will be achieved by introducing cysteine residues at both termini to enable disulfide bond formation.