Transgenic cotton and sterile insect releases synergize eradication of pink bollworm a century after it invaded the United States.

ABSTRACT: Invasive organisms pose a global threat and are exceptionally difficult to eradicate after they become abundant in their new habitats. We report a successful multitactic strategy for combating the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), one of the world's most invasive pests. A coordinated program in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico included releases of billions of sterile pink bollworm moths from airplanes and planting of cotton engineered to produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). An analysis of computer simulations and 21 y of field data from Arizona demonstrate that the transgenic Bt cotton and sterile insect releases interacted synergistically to reduce the pest's population size. In Arizona, the program started i

SUBMITTER: Tabashnik BE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7817146 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature