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Diamondback moth traced back to South America
Elizabeth Gracie
Diamond back moth, Plutella xylostella, Photo credit: David McClenaghan
The diamondback moth has since spread on a global scale and is considered one of agriculture’s worst pests.
The study, published in Nature Communications, traced the origin and historical patterns of migration of the diamondback moth. Researchers hope that by understanding these patterns, they can predict future movements of the moth to protect food security globally.
To achieve their goal, researchers analysed the genomes of more than 530 diamondback moths collected from 114 locations across 55 countries.
Charles Sturt University’s Professor Geoff Gurr participated in the study, and hopes it will lead to new insight on how the moth became so prevalent worldwide.
“Every year more than $5bn is lost in production and control crops in the agriculture industry,” said Gurr.
“The diamondback moth is extremely adept at developing resistance to pesticides which makes chemical control difficult.”
Human movement has also greatly aided the migration of the diamondback moth to new geographical spaces where it has thrived.
“Along the way, it has used its adaptive capacity to cope with the new climates and plants it encountered,” says Gurr.
The team is now looking to South America to learn more about how to combat the pest.
“Now that we know where the diamondback moth originally came from, we can focus our energy on looking in the right place for better natural predators and parasites to help give us control of this devastating pest”, Gurr notes.
This study is “one of the most in-depth genetic analyses of any type of living organisms ever”, according to the Charles Sturt University’s Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation.
“Analysing the full genome, rather than just specific regions is an expensive undertaking especially when dealing with hundreds of insects and large amounts of travel,” says Gurr.
This globally significant research has illustrated the severity of the threat the diamondback moth poses to the agriculture industry and will assist researchers in finding better control options now that the origins of the moth have been pinned down.
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