Transgenic crops producing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins kill some key insect pests, but evolution of resistance by pests can reduce their efficacy. The predominant strategy for delaying pest resistance to Bt crops requires refuges of non-Bt host plants to promote survival of susceptible pests. To delay pest resistance to transgenic cotton producing Bt toxin Cry1Ac, farmers in the United S...

Method of increasing resistance to a pathogen or a pest in a plant comprising introducing into the plant and expressing therein a polynucleotide comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a Qua-Quine Starch (QQS) polypeptide; method of producing a plant with increased resistance to a pathogen or a pest comprising crossing a plant obtained in accordance with the above method with a second plant t...

Climate change, as well as a more intensive forestry, is expected to increase the risk of damage by pests and pathogens on trees, which can already be a severe problem in tree plantations. Recent development of biotechnology theoretically allows for resistance enhancement that could help reduce these risks but we still lack a comprehensive understanding of benefits and tradeoffs with pest resis...

Increased temperature anomaly during the twenty-first century coincides with the proliferation of transgenic crops containing the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) to express insecticidal Cry proteins. Increasing temperatures profoundly affect insect life histories and agricultural pest management. However, the implications of climate change on Bt crop-pest interactions and insec...

BACKGROUND Symbiotic bacteria affect insect physiology and ecology. They may also mediate insecticide resistance within their hosts and thereby impact pest and vector control practices. Here, we document a novel mechanism of insecticide resistance in which a gut symbiont of the tephritid pest fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis enhances resistance to the organophosphate insecticide trichlorphon. RE...

While insecticides have greatly improved human health and agricultural production worldwide, their utility has been limited by the evolution of resistance in many major pests, including some that became pests only as a result of insecticide use. Insecticide resistance is both an interesting example of the adaptability of insect pests, and, in the design of resistance management programmes, a us...

Modern methods of pest control have tended to rely on a single method, whether it be a pesticide or a gene coding for resistance embedded using modern biotechnology tools in the crop itself. An important advantage of integrated pest management (IPM) over reliance on a single tool is that the repeated application of the single method rapidly leads to pest resistance to the tool. Using a variety ...

Title of Document: INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT OF FUSARIUM HEAD BLIGHT IN SOFT RED WINTER WHEAT. Elizabeth Reed, M.S., 2011 Directed By: Associate Professor Arvydas Grybauskas, Department of Plant Sciences and Landscape Architecture Fusarium head blight (FHB), caused by Fusarium graminearum, is a destructive disease of the soft red winter wheat grown in the Mid-Atlantic region. Management of FHB...

“The escalating concern about resistance in C. rosaceana field populations has reinforced the need for continued resistance monitoring and identification of effective tools for integrated pest management programs.” The native North American pest, obliquebanded leafroller, Choristoneura rosaceana (Harris) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is widely distributed and has a broad range of over 50 hosts, b...