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ARS Home » Plains Area » College Station, Texas » Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center » Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #372268
Research Project: Detection and Biologically Based Management of Row Crop Pests Concurrent with Boll Weevil Eradication

Location: Insect Control and Cotton Disease Research

Title: Genome-wide Markers Can Identify the Origin and Demography of Boll Weevil Re-infestations: A Case Study from Kingsville, TX

Author
item Perkin, Lindsey
item Suh, Charles
item RASZICK, TYLER - Texas A&M University
item SWORD, GREGORY - Texas A&M University
item RUIZ-ARCE, RAUL - Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/19/2020
Publication Date: 5/15/2020
Citation: Perkin, L.C., Suh, C.P., Raszick, T., Sword, G.A., Ruiz-Arce, R. 2020. Genome-wide Markers Can Identify the Origin and Demography of Boll Weevil Re-infestations: A Case Study from Kingsville, TX. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 8-10, Austin, Texas. p. 140-143.

Interpretive Summary: The boll weevil has been eradicated from the U.S. except for the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) production area of Texas. While boll weevils remain in the LRGV, all U.S. cotton production areas remain susceptible to re-infestations. Recently, boll weevils were captured in a previously eradicated area near Kingsville, TX, between July 2018 and February 2019. We extracted DNA from these weevils and used genetic markers (SNPs) to establish that the weevils in Kingsville most likely originated from the LGRV region. We also used these genetic markers in conjunction with Coancestry software to estimate how related the captured weevils were to each other (parent-offspring, siblings, etc.). We found that the majority of weevils captured in Kingsville were not related or were very distant relatives, suggesting new weevils moved into the Kingsville area from the LRGV on multiple occasions throughout the growing season as opposed to a small number of weevils moving into the area and reproducing locally in the fields.

Technical Abstract: A boll weevil re-infestation was recently detected in the Kingsville area of Texas, but the factor(s) contributing to the re-infestation have not been identified. Nearly 250 weevils were obtained from pheromone traps in the re-infested area between July 2018 and February 2019. We used genome-wide SNP markers to determine the most likely geographical origin(s) of the weevils. We also used these same markers along with Coancesty software to estimate the relatedness among captured weevils to infer whether the re-infestation involved continual movement of new weevils into the area or if a few weevils moved into the area followed by local reproduction. Our results indicated the weevils captured in the Kingsville area originated from the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) production area. Given that none of the weevils appeared to be closely related, our findings suggest the re-infestation in Kingsville likely involved continual movement of weevils from the LRGV throughout the year.