Using bugs living in insect pests to control the pests

Crop pests threaten production through directly damaging crops or by vectoring plant viruses. For instance, virus vectoring by aphids can lead to crop losses that often exceed direct damage by these pests. Current attempts to control pests and plant disease vectors include suppression, mainly by insecticide seed treatments and foliar sprays, but also through the release and conservation of natural enemies. However chemical control measures are increasingly being challenged by a lack of new active compounds as older products are taken off the market due to environmental and health safety concerns and due to ongoing evolution of pesticide resistance.

We want to develop a new way of controlling pest species by targeting the endosymbiotic bacteria that live in insect cells. Endosymbionts represent a target group of organisms that could be manipulated for pest impact control. The impetus for such an approach has come from recent breakthroughs in using endosymbionts for control of mosquito borne diseases in the health sector. We will develop and illustrate the approach by transferring selfspreading endosymbionts to aphids pests, selecting strains that block plant virus transmission by aphids, increase susceptibility to biopesticides, and decrease the fitness of the aphids to prevent them building up.