Location: Horticultural Crops Disease and Pest Management Research Unit
Project Number: 2072-22000-044-028-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Sep 1, 2022
End Date: Mar 31, 2026
Objective:
The specific objectives of the research project are to identify the physiological mechanism of pheromone biosynthesis in thrips and to develop biological control method for pest thrips by ARS and Gyeonggido Agricultural Research & Extension Services (GARES).
Approach:
1) Identify neuropeptide receptors, G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), involved in the pheromone biosynthesis or feeding activity on thrips.
2) The GPCRs will be expressed functionally in an insect Sf9 cell system, in vitro binding assay with bioactive peptides under the insect cells. Screen, design, and synthesize bioactive peptides targeting western flower thrips (WFT) using biopanning methods and phage libraries.
3) Evaluate efficacy of bioactive peptide in WFT.
