Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/J017426/1
[AGRIFOOD] Novel routes for environmentally benign control of agricultural food insect pests
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor T Chapman, University of East Anglia, Biological Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of East Anglia, Biological Sciences
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- BACKGROUND: Safeguarding world food supplies is a grand challenge. Central to this is the need to develop new methods for tackling pests of agriculturally important crops. Traditional approaches include pesticides, integrated pest management and biological control. However, each has serious drawbacks. In light of this there has been increasing interest in applying genetic modification (GM) techniques for insect control, such as the promising Release of Insects with a Dominant Lethal (RIDL) invented by the CASE partner. In recent work from our existing NERC open CASE studentship (NE/F013337/1), we showed successful suppression of stable populations of medfly (Ceratitis capitata), an insect pest of world-wide economic importance, could be achieved using genetically modified RIDL medflies under field cage conditions. However it not known how RIDL efficacy varies with key environmental (e.g. food and water availability, temperature) and intrinsic (e.g. sex ratio, frequency of resistance) factors of known importance encountered in the field. The aim is to test hypotheses of the effect of these key factors on control via RIDL, using laboratory, glasshouse and field cage experiments. HYPOTHESES: (i) Reductions in diet quality and water availability will reduce the fitness and control potential of RIDL males. (ii) Efficacy of RIDL control will show a non-linear relationship with temperature. (iii) Increases in male biased sex ratio will decrease control via RIDL males above a threshold wild:RIDL male ratio. (iv) Biochemical resistance against RIDL induced lethality can be selected. PROGRAMME: 1. Effect of diet, temperature, sex ratio and resistance on the efficacy of RIDL (Year 1, UEA). The student will test in lab experiments the predictions that (i) reductions in resource levels (diet and water) will decrease RIDL suppression, (ii) rising temperature will elevate then decrease male suppression potential, and (iii) a male biased sex ratio will decrease control when wild type competitor males are present. The student will initiate novel tests for (iv) the evolution of biochemical resistance to lethal RIDL transgenes. They will test for the presence of resistance genes in wild populations and conduct novel experimental evolution to select for such resistance. 2. Effect of diet and sex ratio on RIDL efficacy in glasshouse and field cage tests (Year 2, Oxitec). The student will be based with the CASE partner in year 2 to examine the effect of key factors identified from year 1, in glasshouse and then field cage experiments in Crete. 3. Incidence and effect of heritable resistance against RIDL (Year 3-4, UEA). The final year will be conducted at UEA. Measurements of the incidence of resistance alleles in wild populations will be completed and the response to experimental evolution for resistance to RIDL constructs will be measured. TRAINING: The studentship provides a wide-ranging, topical and challenging project with excellent training potential, to empower the student's career choices. It offers exposure to excellence in academia and SME technology-to-market. Training in technical and generic skills will be supported by UEA's Personal and Professional Development (PPD) programme, drawing from the Researcher Development Framework and NERC 'most wanted' skills
- NERC Reference:
- NE/J017426/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Open CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £74,787
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £13,812 | £48,285 | £12,692 |
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