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Southern Pine Beetle-Specific Rna Interference Demonstrates No Effects On Nontarget Insects, Hannah Marie Hollowell
Southern Pine Beetle-Specific Rna Interference Demonstrates No Effects On Nontarget Insects, Hannah Marie Hollowell
Theses and Dissertations--Entomology
The endemic southern pine beetle (SPB), Dendroctonus frontalis Zimmermann, is a highly destructive bark beetle that has devastated coniferous forests of the southern United States for decades. Traditional management strategies have been unable to respond effectively to largescale SPB outbreaks, prompting exploration of novel techniques including RNA interference (RNAi). Double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are effective at triggering gene silencing and inducing mortality in SPB, but determining delivery methods and demonstrating specificity of the treatments is necessary before this technology may progress to deployment.
I evaluated three SPB-specific dsRNAs on model nontarget insects to assess potential lethal effects, sublethal effects such as …