Australia
June 17, 2008
Scientists from
CSIRO and the
University of Melbourne
in Australia, and the Baylor
College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, are on the brink of a
discovery which will facilitate the development of new, safe,
more sustainable ways of controlling the world’s worst
agricultural insect pest – the moth, Helicoverpa armigera.
The Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and
Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr, said – at the BIO 2008
International Convention in San Diego, California – that the
team was expected to sequence the moth ’s genome in about four
months.
“This will allow the collaborating scientists and a worldwide
consortium of specialists to work on new ways of controlling
this pest,” Senator Carr said.
According to CSIRO’s Group Executive for Agribusiness, Dr Joanne
Daly, these include: the molecular basis of resistance to
chemical and Bt insecticides and population genetics related to
the refuge strategies in place to help prevent Helicoverpa from
developing resistance to Bt transgenic cottons.
“This moth is resistant to nearly every class of chemical
pesticide and threatens the long-term viability of transgenic
crops which are reliant on the biological pesticide, Bt,” Dr
Daly said.
“The sequencing of the genome will greatly facilitate this
research by improving the power, cost effectiveness and insights
from the genetic work on this species and its American cousin H.
zea,” University of Melbourne Associate Professor Philip
Batterham said.
Senator Carr said that finding the moth's Achilles heel was
critically important to agriculture worldwide.
“The moth causes $225 million of damage a year in Australia – $5
billion globally – to crops such as cotton, legumes and
vegetables,” he said.
“Our scientists are already world leaders in research on the
genetics and ecology of Helicoverpa and its close relatives.
“This project – led by CSIRO Entomology’s Dr John Oakeshott and
Associate Professor Batterham – will build on Australia’s role.
Working together with our partners at Germany’s Max Planck
Institute for Chemical Ecology and France’s National Institute
for Agricultural Research, the project will help establish us as
leaders in organising major insect genome projects.”
The project is another example of what can be achieved through
collaboration between scientists and their institutions both in
Australia and overseas, he said.
Read more at:
http://www.csiro.au/news/MothGenome.html
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