Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints
ABSTRACTBiological control has long been considered a potential alternative to pesticidal strategies for pest management but its impact and level of use globally remain modest and inconsistent. A rapidly expanding range of molecular – particularly DNA-related – techniques is currently revolutionizin...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2015.01255/full |
| _version_ | 1818340385592705024 |
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| author | Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou |
| author_facet | Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou |
| author_sort | Gurr eGeoff |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACTBiological control has long been considered a potential alternative to pesticidal strategies for pest management but its impact and level of use globally remain modest and inconsistent. A rapidly expanding range of molecular – particularly DNA-related – techniques is currently revolutionizing many life sciences. This review identifies a series of constraints on the development and uptake of conservation biological control and considers the contemporary and likely future influence of molecular methods on these constraints. Molecular approaches are now often used to complement morphological taxonomic methods for the identification and study of biological control agents including microbes. A succession of molecular techniques has been applied to ‘who eats whom’ questions in food-web ecology. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approaches have largely superseded immunological approaches such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and now – in turn – are being overtaken by next generation sequencing (NGS)- based approaches that offer unparalleled power at a rapidly diminishing cost. There is scope also to use molecular techniques to manipulate biological control agents, which will be accelerated with the advent of gene editing tools, the CRISPR/Cas9 system in particular. Gene editing tools also offer unparalleled power to both elucidate and manipulate the plant defence mechanisms including those that involve natural enemy attraction to attacked plants. Rapid advances in technology will allow the development of still more novel pest management options for which uptake is likely to be limited chiefly by regulatory hurdles. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:42:04Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-990c3e265a23490e9d1410f437245d8c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-462X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T15:42:04Z |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Plant Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-990c3e265a23490e9d1410f437245d8c2022-12-21T23:39:49ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Plant Science1664-462X2016-01-01610.3389/fpls.2015.01255171328Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraintsGurr eGeoff0Gurr eGeoff1Gurr eGeoff2Gurr eGeoff3Minsheng eYou4Minsheng eYou5Minsheng eYou6Fujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityCharles Sturt UniversityFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityFujian Agriculture and Forestry UniversityABSTRACTBiological control has long been considered a potential alternative to pesticidal strategies for pest management but its impact and level of use globally remain modest and inconsistent. A rapidly expanding range of molecular – particularly DNA-related – techniques is currently revolutionizing many life sciences. This review identifies a series of constraints on the development and uptake of conservation biological control and considers the contemporary and likely future influence of molecular methods on these constraints. Molecular approaches are now often used to complement morphological taxonomic methods for the identification and study of biological control agents including microbes. A succession of molecular techniques has been applied to ‘who eats whom’ questions in food-web ecology. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) approaches have largely superseded immunological approaches such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and now – in turn – are being overtaken by next generation sequencing (NGS)- based approaches that offer unparalleled power at a rapidly diminishing cost. There is scope also to use molecular techniques to manipulate biological control agents, which will be accelerated with the advent of gene editing tools, the CRISPR/Cas9 system in particular. Gene editing tools also offer unparalleled power to both elucidate and manipulate the plant defence mechanisms including those that involve natural enemy attraction to attacked plants. Rapid advances in technology will allow the development of still more novel pest management options for which uptake is likely to be limited chiefly by regulatory hurdles.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2015.01255/fullbarcodinginduced plant defencegene editinggut analysisGene driveCRIPR/Cas9 |
| spellingShingle | Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Gurr eGeoff Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou Minsheng eYou Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints Frontiers in Plant Science barcoding induced plant defence gene editing gut analysis Gene drive CRIPR/Cas9 |
| title | Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints |
| title_full | Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints |
| title_fullStr | Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints |
| title_full_unstemmed | Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints |
| title_short | Conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era: new opportunities to address old constraints |
| title_sort | conservation biological control of pests in the molecular era new opportunities to address old constraints |
| topic | barcoding induced plant defence gene editing gut analysis Gene drive CRIPR/Cas9 |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpls.2015.01255/full |
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