Recently, the Economic Crop Pest Monitoring and Control Innovation Team of the Institute of Plant Protection of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, together with the Shenzhen Genomics Institute and foreign scientific research institutions, has made important progress in the field of interaction between insects and symbiotic microorganisms, and found that after the wide application of Bt cotton in China, cotton bollworms produce adaptability through population genetic changes and effectively resist viral infections with the help of microorganisms, and related research results are published online in the journal "Life Science Online (elife)".
According to reports, cotton bollworm is a world-wide major agricultural pest with a wide range of hosts. In terms of production, Bt insect-resistant crops are the main means of controlling the harm of cotton bollworms, and Bt cotton has been planted in China for more than 20 years. The changes in the planting structure of this crop have been extensively and in-depth studied on the changes in the population structure of target pests, non-target pests and natural enemy insects, but their effects on pest symbiotic microorganisms are not clear.
Through long-term experiments, the team excavated a symbiotic virus, HadV2, which is widely present in the target pest of Bt cotton, cotton bollworm, and can regulate genes related to the immune pathway of cotton bollworm to obtain high suitability and Bt tolerance. Therefore, the team designed the experimental and statistical methods at the top level, and collected more than ten years of field survey data, and after statistical analysis, it was found that the planting of Bt cotton accelerated the infection of cotton bollworm HadV2. The results show that when responding to the major existential threat of Bt cotton, cotton bollworms can not only adapt through changes in population genes, but also effectively resist with the help of microorganisms. The results are of great scientific significance for the development of new theories and methods for pest control.
Immune response mechanism of bollworm infection with DV virus
Source: Guangming Network