Sterile Moths Wipe Out Pink Bollworms in Arizona

Genetic engineering for the expression of Bt toxins in crops is one of the prevalent and reliable ways to control pests. However, previous studies have shown that insects tend to adopt to the Bt toxin. Thus, scientist Bruce Tabashnik of the University of Arizona and colleagues tested a novel approach to address this problem. They released sterile insects released to mate with Bt-resistant larvae. According to computer simulations, it was proven that this approach works in principle against pest with recessive or dominant inheritance of resistance. This was done for four years at large-scale field deployment in Arizona. During that period, the resistance of pink boll worm to Bt cotton did not intensify. This reduced the abundance of pink boll worm by >99 percent, as well as the rampant spraying of insecticide against the pest.

Subscribers of Nature Biotechnology can access the paper at http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/pdf/nbt.1704.pdf.