Reproductive interference for insect control

虫害是对人类生计和健康的持续和日益严重的威胁，因为它们破坏经济上重要的作物并传播疾病。气候危机也加剧了防治这些害虫的紧迫全球挑战，导致昆虫病媒迁移到以前无人居住的大城市，造成新的人类虫害风险。该项目将侧重于生殖干扰-即一个物种/种群的求偶和交配被另一个物种/种群打断或干扰。在昆虫控制的背景下，这通常被称为satyrization，它的工作，因为杂交交配的后果（特别是成本）往往是单向的，导致一个有害的物种（或种群）的竞争排斥更良性的。该项目是与Earlham和Pirbright研究所，世界领先的生物信息学和遗传技术的发展研究中心，分别合作。通过果蝇模型中的satyrization昆虫控制的测试案例将被开发，以确定的位点和调控机制，satyrization以及支撑信号和接收器。

Insect pests are a persistent and growing threat to human livelihoods and health because they damage economically important crops and spread disease. The pressing global challenge of combating such pests is also being exacerbated by the climate crisis, leading to migration of insect vectors into previously unoccupied conurbations, creating new human-pest exposures. The project will focus on reproductive interference - whereby courtship and copulation of one species / population is interrupted or disturbed by another. In the context of insect control this is usually referred to as satyrization and it works because the consequences (particularly costs) of hybrid mating are often unidirectional leading to the competitive exclusion of a harmful species (or population) by a more benign one.The project is a collaboration with the Earlham and Pirbright Institutes, world-leading research centres for bioinformatics and the development of genetic technologies, respectively. A test case for insect control via satyrization in the fruitfly model will be developed to identify the loci and regulatory mechanisms contributing to satyrization as well as the underpinning signal and receivers.