Location: Plant Genetics Research
2020 Annual Report
Accomplishments
1. Western corn rootworm resistance is not fixed for all Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins. Western corn rootworms are a major insect pest of corn and are historically adept at evolving resistance to management practices, often without measurable fitness costs. Selection for resistance to all insecticides and most Bt toxins results in rapid development of resistance that remains fixed in rootworm populations. ARS and University of Missouri researchers in Columbia, Missouri, found that insect resistance to one of the major Bt toxins is associated with fitness costs including decreased lifespan and fecundity in adult insects. Recovery of susceptibility after removing toxin exposure for six generations to this one specific Bt toxin differs from rootworm resistance to all other toxins. This information is useful for devising strategies to prolong the duration of rootworm toxins in the field.
Review Publications
Seeve, C.M., Sunkar, R., Zheng, Y., Liu, L., Liu, Z., Mcmullen, M.D., Nelson, S.K., Sharp, R.E., Oliver, M.J. 2019. Water-deficit responsive microRNAs in the primary root growth zone of maize. Biomed Central (BMC) Plant Biology. 19:447. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-019-2037-y.
Gyawali, A., Shrestha, V., Guill, K.E., Flint Garcia, S.A., Beissinger, T.M. 2019. Single-plant GWAS coupled with bulk segregant analysis allows rapid identification and corroboration of plant-height candidate SNPs. Biomed Central (BMC) Plant Biology. 19:412. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-019-2000-y.
Huynh, M.P., Hibbard, B.E., Vella, M., Lapointe, S.L., Niedz, R.P., Shelby, K., Coudron, T.A. 2019. Development of an improved and accessible diet for western corn rootworm larvae using response surface modeling. Scientific Reports. 9:16009. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-52484-z.
Pereira, A.E., Ludwick, D.C., Barry, J.M., Meinke, L.J., Moellenbeck, D.J., Ellersieck, M.R., Reinders, J.D., Geisert, R.W., Hyte, K., Ernwall, A., Paddock, K.J., Hibbard, B.E. 2019. Optimizing egg recovery from wild northern corn rootworm beetles (coleoptera: chrysomelidae). Journal of Economic Entomology. 112(6):2737-2743. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toz234.
Zhang, X., Van Doan, C., Arce, C.C., Hu, L., Gruenig, S., Parisod, C., Hibbard, B.E., Herve, M.R., Nielson, C.N., Robert, C.A., Machado, R.A., Erb, M. 2019. Plant defense resistance in natural enemies of a specialist insect herbivore. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116(46):23174-23181. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1912599116.
Wisser, R.J., Fang, Z., Holland, J.B., Teixeira, J.E., Dougherty, J., Weldekidan, T., De Leon, N., Flint-Garcia, S.A., Lauter, N.C., Murray, S.C., Xu, W., Hallauer, A. 2019. The genomic basis for short-term evolution of environmental adaptation in maize. Genetics. 213(4):1479-1494. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.119.302780.
Ludwick, D.C., Ericsson, A.C., Meihls, L.M., Gregory, M.L., Finke, D.L., Coudron, T.A., Hibbard, B.E., Shelby, K. 2019. Survey of bacteria associated with western corn rootworm life stages reveals no difference between insects reared in different soils. Scientific Reports. 9:15332. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-51870-x.
Xue, W., Anderson, S.N., Wang, X., Yang, L., Crisp, P.A., Li, Q., Noshay, J., Albert, P.S., Birchler, J.A., Bilinski, P., Stitzer, M.C., Ross-Ibarra, J., Flint-Garcia, S.A., Chen, X., Springer, N.M., Doebley, J.F. 2019. Hybrid decay: A transgenerational epigenetic decline in vigor and viability triggered in backcross populations of teosinte with maize. Genetics. 213(1):143-160. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.119.302378.
Ramstein, G.P., Larsson, S.J., Cook, J.P., Edwards, J.W., Ersoz, E.S., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gardner, C.A., Holland, J.B., Lorenz, A.J., Mcmullen, M.D., Millard, M.J., Rocheford, T.R., Tuinstra, M.R., Bradbury, P., Buckler IV, E.S., Romay, M.C. 2020. Dominance effects and functional enrichments improve prediction of agronomic traits in hybrid maize. Genetics. 215:215-230. https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.120.303025.
Falcon, C.M., Kaeppler, S.M., Spalding, E.P., Miller, N.D., Haase, N., Alkhalifah, N., Bohn, M., Buckler IV, E.S., Campbell, D.A., Ciampitti, I., Coffey, L., Edwards, J.W., Ertl, D., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gore, M.A., Graham, C., Hirsch, C.N., Holland, J.B., Jarquin, D., Knoll, J.E., Lauter, N.C., Lawrence-Dill, C.J., Lee, E.C., Lorenz, A., Lynch, J.P., Murray, S.C., Nelson, R., Romay, M., Rocheford, T., Schnable, P., Scully, B.T., Smith, M.C., Springer, N., Tuinstra, M., Walton, R., Weldekidan, T., Wisser, R.J., Xu, W., De Leon, N. Relative utility of agronomic, phenological, and morphological traits for assessing genotype-by-environment interaction in maize inbreds. Crop Science. 2020; 60:62-81. https://doi.org/10.1002/csc2.20035
Mcfarland, B.A., Alkhalifah, N., Bohn, M., Bubert, J., Buckler IV, E.S., Ciampitti, I., Edwards, J.W., Ertl, D., Gage, J.L., Falcon, C.M., Flint Garcia, S.A., Gore, M., Graham, C., Hirsch, C., Holland, J.B., Hood, E., Hooker, D., Jarquin, D., Kaeppler, S., Knoll, J.E., Kruger, G., Lauter, N.C., Lee, E.C., Lima, D.C., Lorenz, A., Lynch, J.P., Mckay, J., Miller, N.D., Moose, S.P., Murray, S.C., Nelson, R., Poudyal, C., Rocheford, T., Rodriguez, O., Romay, M., Schnable, J.C., Schnable, P.S., Scully, B.T., Sekhon, R., Silverstein, K., Singh, M., Smith, M., Spalding, E.P., Springer, N., Thelen, K., Thomison, P., Tuinstra, M., Wallace, J., Walls, R., Wills, D., Wisser, R.J., Xu, W., Yeh, C., De Leon, N. Maize genomes to fields (G2F): 2014 –2017 field seasons: genotype, phenotype, climatic, soil and inbred ear image datasets. BMC Research Notes. 13,71 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-020-4922-8.
Pereira, A.E., Huynh, M.P., Sethi, A., Miles, A.L., French, B.W., Ellersieck, M.R., Coudron, T.A., Shelby, K., Hibbard, B.E. 2020. Baseline susceptibility of a laboratory strain of northern corn rootworm, diabrotica barberi (coleoptera: chrysomelidae) to bacillus thuringiensis traits in seedling, single plant, and diet-toxicity assays. Journal of Economic Entomology. 113(4):1955–1962. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toaa107.
