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Turfgrass Insects
Published in L.B. (Bert) McCarty, Golf Turf Management, 2018
The Japanese beetle is one of the easier species to manage, while oriental beetles and European chafers are more problematic. Biological control has been provided by strains of the bacteria, Bacillus popilliae and B. thuringiensis (Bt), and parasitic nematodes, Heterorhadbitis bacteriophora and Steinernema sp. The milky disease from this bacterium is most active on Japanese beetle grubs. Grubs ingest this while feeding and the bacteria causes the grub’s body fluids to turn a milky white color (hence, the name) prior to death. Bt produces crystalline proteins that destroy an insect’s gut lining. Bacteria population buildup and control require an extended time period, typically three to five years. The parasitic nematodes show promise but must be applied yearly within moist soil. A dark-colored, hairy wasp, Scolia dubia, is often seen hovering over turf in late August or September. Female wasps sting a grub to paralyze it and then deposit an egg; upon hatching, the wasp larva consumes the grub. These wasps are virtually harmless to humans unless picked up or stepped on with bare feet.
Soil
Published in Stanley E. Manahan, Environmental Chemistry, 2022
Efforts are under way to find natural products with insecticidal properties. The greatest success to date with natural product insecticides has been with the proteinaceous materials produced by strains of Bt. Consisting of a family of proteins that are selective for various insect pests, Bt destroys insect larvae by causing their digestive tracts to deteriorate, but it is not appreciably toxic to non-insect organisms and it breaks down in the environment. The genes for producing Bt have been spliced into corn and other crops by recombinant DNA techniques, and large fractions of the corn and cotton crops now grown in the United States and some other countries consist of these genetically modified strains.
Soil: Earth’s Lifeline
Published in Stanley Manahan, Environmental Chemistry, 2017
Efforts are under way to find natural products with insecticidal properties. The greatest success to date with natural product insecticides has been with the proteinaceous materials produced by strains of Bt. Consisting of a family of proteins that are selective for various insect pests, Bt destroys insect larvae by causing their digestive tracts to deteriorate, but it is not appreciably toxic to non-insect organisms and it breaks down in the environment. The genes for producing Bt have been spliced into corn and other crops by recombinant DNA techniques, and large fractions of the corn and cotton crops now grown in the United States and some other countries consist of these genetically modified strains.
Agricultural production: assessment of the potential use of Cas9-mediated gene drive systems for agricultural pest control
Published in Journal of Responsible Innovation, 2018
Maxwell J. Scott, Fred Gould, Marcé Lorenzen, Nathaniel Grubbs, Owain Edwards, David O’Brochta
Given the generally limited movement of the DBM adults when host plants are abundant, local release of a suppressive gene-drive strain even at low frequencies could begin to have effects within one season. A suppressive gene-drive approach reverting insecticide resistance to susceptibility (Esvelt et al. 2014) may be a useful mechanism to assist in DBM population suppression. Insecticide (including Bt toxin) resistance has been successfully managed in several pest species, often using a combination of high-dose applications, pyramiding of active ingredients, and maintenance of untreated refuges (Ives et al. 2011). Management of insecticide resistance is only possible while the resistance allele frequencies remain low in target populations (Alstad and Andow 1995). DBM is prone to develop insecticide resistance, and most existing active ingredients are no longer useful against this pest (Grzywacz et al. 2010). In many cases, the genetic basis of resistance to these active ingredients has been determined (You et al. 2013). For some of these, it may be possible to deploy a gene-drive approach to return the resistance allele frequency to a level that would allow for management of resistance using other strategies. In the longer term, release of resistance-suppressive gene-drive strains of DBM could form an integral part of an integrative resistance management (IRM) strategy.
Low toxicity and high efficacy in use of novel approaches to control Aedes aegypti
Published in Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, Part B, 2020
Vanessa Santana Vieira Santos, Boscolli Barbosa Pereira
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive entomopathogenic bacterium abundant in soil and plants, and has been widely used as biological agent against natural enemies, displaying an important role in insect pest control management and public health (Lajmanovich et al. 2015; Palma et al. 2014). The pathogenic mechanism of action underlying Bacillus thuringiensis is attributed to an insect-Bt interaction process which involves insect immune responses and Bt toxic proteins (Contreras et al. 2015).
Bacilli as sources of agrobiotechnology: recent advances and future directions
Published in Green Chemistry Letters and Reviews, 2021
Zerihun T. Dame, Mahfuz Rahman, Tofazzal Islam
According to estimates of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world population would reach 9.7 billion by the year 2050 (13). This necessitates substantial increase in agricultural production to feed a population of such magnitude. Besides, climate change is also posing a challenge to worldwide crop production. Much of the arable land may no longer be usable due to increase in salinity, drought or pest attack. These problems can’t be solved by the use of chemicals. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look for a sustainable way to maximize agricultural production. In this regard, the role of Bacillus species in controlling plant pathogens, enhancing their tolerance to various biotic and abiotic stresses thereby increasing production would be an exciting area of research. T he discovery of the elite strains of Bacillus spp. has high potentials for commercialization and management of abiotic and biotic stresses to improve crop production. Recent advances in genomics and postgenomics analyses have shed light on the molecular mechanisms of biocontrol of plant diseases by the Bacillus species (14, 140). Insecticidal toxins produced in commercially available transgenic plants is originated from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Although Bt strains show differing specificities of insecticidal activity toward pests, they constitute a large reservoir of genes encoding insecticidal proteins, which are accumulated in the crystalline inclusion bodies produced by the bacterium on sporulation (Cry proteins, Cyt proteins) or expressed during bacterial growth (Vip proteins)(15). Development of insect-resistant crops is one of the major successes of plant genetic engineering technology by inserting B. thuringiensis genes in many agriculturally important crops. Some of the success stories of Bt technology include cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) resistant to lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars) and maize (Zea mays) resistant to both lepidopteran and coleopteran larvae (rootworms) that have been widely used in global agriculture resulting in reductions in pesticide usage and lower production costs (16, 17). A recently introduced Bt-brinjal in Bangladesh dramatically reduced synthetic pesticide application and increased farmers’ income (18). However, the use of Bt GM crops comes with various challenges that are to be addressed. Some insects have developed resistance to Bt GM crops creating new economic or agronomic challenges. Additional scientific efforts were made to stack Bt genes in certain crops or new agronomic practices were introduced to prevent insects from developing resistance. For example, farmers need to plant a certain amount of conventional plants alongside Bt plants in ‘refuge’ areas. Several reviews have been published on bioactive compounds from terrestrial and marine bacilli, their biosynthetic pathways and engineering plants using Bt genes (4, 14, 15, 19–24). However, there is no comprehensive review published on baccili as source of agrobiotechnology. This comprehensive review updates our understanding of the applications of bacilli in agriculture and industry, and discusses their promise for the development of new agrobiotechnology.