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Genetically Modified Insects as a Tool for Biorational Control

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Biorational Control of Arthropod Pests

Abstract

Since the dawn of agriculture, pests and plant diseases have plagued crop production. The impact of pests is perhaps no better exemplified than by the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, whose image appears on stone monuments in Egypt dating around 2400 BC (Baron 1972). Similar records of plagues by other locusts appear in very early Chinese history as well (Lima 2007). The principal feature of locust outbreaks is their unpredictable nature, much like floods, drought, hurricanes and other “natural” disasters. Not withstanding the Green Revolution in crop breeding of the 1960s, the latest breakthroughs in the history of agriculture are pesticides (ca 1940) and biotechnology (ca 1975). The former not only led to an increase in crop yield by reducing pre-harvest losses to pests, but allowed invasions to be treated and controlled. Indeed, the true value of neurotoxic insecticides is their ability to stop an insect or mite infestation immediately. This allows the grower to complete a production cycle and harvest a crop at a predictable time with a predictable yield. A dependable harvest also allows the commodity industries and government agencies to fund research and buys time for development of alternative methods of control that are more specific with fewer side effects.

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Acknowledgements

Work reported here was supported by continuing cooperative agreement 8500–0510-GR from United States Department of Agriculture-Animal Plant Health Inspection Service and Hatch Funds from the University of California, Agricultural Experiment Station (TAM).

Kostas Bourtzis thanks European Union (QLK-CT2000–1079 and CSA-REGPROT 203590 – MicrobeGR), the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Greek Secretariat for Research and Technology, the Greek Ministry of Education, the Empirikion Foundation and the University of Ioannina which have supported the research from his laboratory.

Oxitec Ltd funded part of the research reported here as well as the Arizona Cotton Research and Protection Council.

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  1. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxitec Ltd, South Park Road, 71 Milton Park, Oxford, OX1 3PS, OX14 4RX, UK

    Luke Alphey

  2. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Ioannina, 2 Seferi St., 30100, Agrino, Greece

    Kostas Bourtzis

  3. Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA

    Thomas Miller

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  1. Volcani Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel

    Isaac Ishaaya

  2. Agricultural Research Organization, Gilat Research Center, Mobile Post, Negev, 85280, Israel

    A. Rami Horowitz

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Alphey, L., Bourtzis, K., Miller, T. (2009). Genetically Modified Insects as a Tool for Biorational Control. In: Ishaaya, I., Horowitz, A. (eds) Biorational Control of Arthropod Pests. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2316-2_8

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