Insect Viruses: New Strategies for Pest Control

Abstract

For the last 50 Years, insect control programs have relied heavily on the use of chemical insecticides. Today, however, awareness of the unintended biological consequences of the use of broad-spectrum insecticidal compounds and changing attitudes toward this ecological cost are now coupled with the ever-increasing problem of target-pest resistance. On the other hand, it now seems possible that advances in biotechnology will lead to novel uses of entomopathogens, and that such approaches might have the potential to circumvent a majority of these problems. In this chapter we outline the possibilities for integration of insect viruses, or their constitutive parts, into novel insect control agents and strategies.