New technologies to replace neonicotinoid pesticides in the control of cabbage stem flea beetle on rapeseed

这个博士项目旨在创造所需的基础知识，以帮助开发新的更环保的方法来控制油菜籽上的关键害虫，白菜茎跳甲。跳蚤甲虫以前曾被有效地控制了类烟碱种子处理，但目前在欧洲的使用禁令的基础上对蜜蜂种群的毒性作用意味着我们需要新的和更具体的方法来保护油菜作物免受跳蚤甲虫的损害。这项工作的核心是需要更详细地了解跳甲和油菜作物之间相互作用的分子遗传学。在这个项目中，您将开发用于分析分子事件的方法，这些分子事件使跳甲能够克服油菜植物防御并成功地攻击作物。您将使用新的基因组工具来了解植物对昆虫取食的反应，并使用现代育种技术来识别和鉴定使用来自我们商业合作伙伴的外来芸苔种质资源对跳蚤甲虫攻击的抗性来源。该项目将与油菜籽育种公司Limagrain密切合作，并将包括在Limagrain借调的机会，并利用他们的田间试验方案和遗传工具。

This PhD project aims to create the underlying knowledge required to help develop new more environmentally-friendly approaches to controlling the key insect pest on rapeseed, the cabbage stem flea beetle. Flea beetles had previously been effectively controlled by neonicotinoid seed treatments, but the current usage ban in Europe based on toxic effects on bee populations mean that we need new and more specific approaches to protecting rapeseed crops from flea beetle damage. Central to this effort is the need to understand the molecular genetics of the interaction between flea beetles and the rapeseed crop in more detail. In this project you will develop methods for analysing the molecular events that enable flea beetles to overcome rapeseed plant defences and successfully attack the crop. You will use new genomic tools to understand plant responses to insect feeding, and use modern breeding techniques to identity and characterise sources of resistance to flea beetle attack using exotic brassica germplasm collections from our commercial partner. The project will run closely with the rapeseed breeding company Limagrain and will include opportunities to take secondments at Limagrain and to exploit their field trials programme and genetic tools for this project.