Pest protection

Science programme: Applied entomology

Research in this area is aimed at protecting plants from pests so growers can maximise crop yields. The team does not focus on specific pests but is developing novel generic technologies to assist with plant protection.

The development of DNA techniques and the creation of transgenic plants has revolutionised study in this area by not only making a wider gene pool available but also enabling results to be gained much more quickly.

The team is involved in seven main projects:

• Regulating/controlling chewing and plant sap-sucking insects
• Sub-cellular targeting of proteins
• Proteomic analysis of insect midgut cell fractions
• Insect/insect virus interaction genomics
• Pheromone receptors transduction
• Understanding the peritrophic membrane as a site for enabling of plant protection
• Disease mechanisms in grass grub (with AgResearch).

The virology project involves collaboration with Otago University based on knowledge of the complete gene sequence for a leafroller baculovirus. The interactions between viruses and insects are being studied over time to see which virus genes operate early or later in the life cycle and what effects occur in the insect genome in terms of gene expression in the infected cells of the specific leafroller and close relatives. Researchers also hope to understand what mechanisms control the host range of this virus. This project started in 2002.

One of the group’s major successes is a development of a technology, which was fully patented in 2000, to successfully express an insect resistance protein (Avidin) in plants. Transgenic plants containing avidin are as effective as Bt-containing plants and are resistant to a wider range of insects.