Genome reveals how moths detoxify pesticides

By mapping the genome of the diamondback moth, scientists have uncovered some of the genes that make it such a destructive agricultural pest. The discovery may lead to new ways to protect crops.

Two Australian scientists have helped reveal the "evolutionary trick" which makes the diamondback moth one of the world's worst agricultural pests.

University of Adelaide Ramsay research fellow Dr Simon Baxter and Charles Sturt University Professor Geoff Gurr, from the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, were part of an international consortium which today revealed the genetic blueprint of the moth in a paper in the international journal Nature Genetics.

Diamondback moth wreaks billions of dollars worth of damage to crops around the world each year, costing producers $4-5 billion in crop loss and control measures, and has caused major problems for the Australian canola industry.

The caterpillars feed on cabbage and related plants and are difficult to control because they can quickly develop resistance to all types of insecticide.

Dr Baxter said the moth had spread throughout the world and could be found in vegetable gardens and farms across Australia.

"They have an incredible ability to migrate long distances and to quickly adapt to the environments they encounter, making outbreaks of these insects difficult to predict and control," Dr Baxter said.

"This project has helped identify the genes that make diamondback moth such a successful pest and will enable new insecticide resistance monitoring techniques and pest management strategies to be developed."

Professor Gurr said the successful sequencing of the moth's genome revealed the moth's "evolutionary trick"; its ability to detoxify the defence compounds produced by plants in the cabbage family.

"These are the same compounds that make mustard so pungent and cabbage so smelly," Professor Gurr said.

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Genome reveals how moths detoxify pesticides