Skip to main content
Entomology 2021 Main banner
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
In-Person
In-Person
Livestream
Livestream
On-Demand
On-Demand
Student Competition
Student Competition
Video Chat
Video Chat
Ticketed Event
Ticketed Event
Poster Icons
Student Competition
Student Competition
In-Person
In-Person
Poster
Poster
On-Demand
On-Demand
Back
Video Q&A ViewAttendees 3

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

10-Minute Paper

P-IE: Ecology On-Demand Presentations

RNAi and Bagrada hilaris: The potential for pest control and elucidation of gene function through expression knockdown

On-Demand
On-Demand
Bagrada hilaris was first detected within California in 2008 and has since spread through several southwestern states within the United States. As a polyphagous insect, it damages many different types of crops particularly within the Brassica family. Given the spread of this pest, there is an immediate concern that it will continue moving east across the US and threaten crops within new areas. Current control methods focus primarily on chemical control, however, there are studies currently underway that are exploring the use of classical biological control with egg parasitoids. To further complement these control methods, we have begun looking at RNAi as a control method for this pest. Digital gene expression data through transcriptome analysis were collected leading to the initial selection of constitutively expressed genes to begin this work. Ultimately differentially expressed genes will be sought out within the transcriptome data to test for effect on the survivability of this pest. RNAi has been shown to have variable efficacy within hemipteran pests and so the progress of this work along with future opportunities and directions will be discussed. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to improve the sustainability of US cole crop production by providing an additional control method for this pest.