Innovation for Environmentally Sustainable Pest Management

The team provides government and industry with innovative and sustainable approaches to invertebrate pest management. We use physiology, biochemistry and host-parasite interactions to develop biorational and enhanced biocontrol alternatives to conventional broad-spectrum pesticides. Our work contributes to environmentally acceptable and sustainable pest-management strategies.

We are a long-standing, internationally recognised research team with primary strengths in invertebrate endocrinology, insect immune defences, host-parasite interactions and the development and application of novel techniques. The team collaborates with industry, universities and levy funding bodies.

Activities

Our team is at the forefront of developing ways to suppress insect immune defences in UK pests, with the potential to deploy novel biocontrol strategies that are target-specific, effective and environmentally friendly. Our aims are to identify potential targets as a basis for new methods of invertebrate pest management and to explore ways to overcome possible limitations.

Our work addresses Defra policy objectives for optimisation or minimisation of pesticide use, in response to professional and public concern about the use of toxic chemicals.

We are an international leader in developing understanding of the hormonal factors that regulate feeding, development and reproduction in insects of agricultural and horticultural importance. Our work focuses on determining the potential utility of peptides, peptide hormones, and associated endocrine-disrupting factors for use against UK agricultural pest species.

DEFRA/PSD-funded research carried out in collaboration with the University of Durham has facilitated the development of a novel method for the oral delivery of insect-specific, biologically active peptides to insect pests. Having established the validity of the fusion-protein technique for the delivery of insecticidal peptides, the project is taking this approach further towards commercial development.

Achievements

  • Producing a fusion protein composed of a neurotoxin derived from the red scorpion, which potentially offers a range of new control methods for pests.
  • Developing an enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay (ELISA) to FMRF-amide to determine the presence of sulfakinin-like peptides in larvae of Tomato moth, L. oleracea.
  • Investigating the feasibility of applying information obtained from the basic biology of the sheep scab mite, to develop novel control methods that are safe, non-toxic and environmentally friendly.
  • Completion of survey of Local Authorities, water companies and selected pest-control operators to determine the degree to which insects associated with sewage works cause nuisance to the general public.

Publications

Wakefield M E, Bell H A, Fitches E C, Edwards J P, et al: Effects of Galanthus nivalis agglutin (GNA) expressed in tomato leaves on larvae of the tomato moth Lacanobia oleracea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) and the effect of GNA on the development of the endoparasitoid Meteorus gyrator (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research, Vol 96, pp 43-52.

Down R E, Fitches E C, Wiles D P, Corti P, Bell H A, Gatehouse J A, Edwards J P: Insecticidal spider venom toxin fused to snowdrop lectin is toxic to the peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and rice brown planthopper Niliparvata lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). Pest Management Science, Vol 62, pp 77-85.

Matthews H J, Audsley N, Weaver R J: Alanine substitution and deletion analogues of Manduca Sexta allatostatin: structure activity relationship on the spontaneous contractions of the foregut of larval Lacanobia oleracea. Journal of Insect Physiology, Vol 52, pp 128-135.

Audsley N, Meredith J, Phillips J E: Haemolymph levels of Schistocerca gregaria ion transport peptide and ion transport-like peptide. Physiological Entomology, Vol 31, pp 154-163.

Walker M, Rylett C, Keen J, Audsley N, Sajid M, Shirras A, Isaac R E: Proteomic identification of Drosophila melanogaster male accessory gland proteins, including a pro-cathepsin and a soluble a-glutamyl transpeptidase. Proteome Science, Vol 4 (9).