Recipient Organization
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
ITHACA,NY 14853
Performing Department
Entomology
Non Technical Summary
House flies are major pests of animal production facilities as they transmit numerous diseases and greatly reduce productivity. Insecticides are commonly used for controlling this pest, but resistance is a major problem. This project will monitor insecticide resistance levels, identify the genes underlying resistance, and evaluate new insecticides in order to inform future control strategies.
Animal Health Component
50%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
50%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
New technologies for management of biting and nuisance flies in organic and conventional systems a. Novel push-pull strategies (NE, NC, USDA-NE, USDA-FL)
b. Evaluation of improved monitoring systems (USDA-NE, CA, TN, NM)
c. Novel toxicants, biopesticides, and delivery systems (TX, USDA-FL, USDA-NE, FL, NE, PA, NM)
d. Non-pesticide management options (mechanical) (FL, NC, NE, USDA-NE, USDA-FL, USDA-TX, PA, TN)
Insecticide resistance detection and management a. Assessment of insecticide resistance (TX, NY, USDA)
b. Leveraging the Stomoxys and Musca genomes for novel control measures (NY, USDA)
Project Methods
1. We have extensive experience evaluating resistance in house fly populations and will use the methods we have established (diagnostic concentrations) to evaluate the levels of resistance to insecticides. A member of our S1076 group has put together an online list of all the insecticides that are labeled for fly control in each state. Collaborators will identify "hot spots" (i.e. facilities having fly control problems), collect flies, send pupae and we (CU, PSU, NIU) will test resistance levels to the insecticides available in that state. We anticipate doing this at three or four geographically widespread sites.2. No new insecticides have been registered as premise sprays for house fly control in over 20 years, despite numerous new insecticides being discovered. This leaves a number of recently developed insecticides with potential for fly control. Working with collaborators in our S1076 group, including government and industry representatives, we will select ten insecticides that are collectively viewed as having the greatest potential for house fly control. We (NIU, Cornell, USDA) will examine the toxicity of these compounds to susceptible and resistant strains, to evaluate efficacy and the potential for cross-resistance, respectively.3. Using the recently collected KS17 strain of house flies that is no longer controlled with pyrethroid insecticides we will seek to identify the mutations responsible for resistance using a technique called bulk segregant analysis (BSA) as follows. Unmated KS17 strain females will be selected at a dose of 800 μg/fly to insure it is homozygous for the resistance alleles. KS17 will be crossed to a susceptible strain and the F1 flies will be allowed to interbreed. This process will continue until the F7. Flies from the F7 will be split into two groups. One will be unselected and one will be selected at 800 μg/fly (a dose that allows only homozygous resistant individuals to survive). We will sequence the genomes of the two parental strains, the unselected F7 and the F7 survivors. A BSA will be carried to identify the loci responsible for resistance. The resolution of the resistance locus will be improved using amplicon sequencing. These analysis is facilitated by the completed house fly genome and recent long read sequencing. The genes present at each locus will be evaluated for their potential role in resistance and validation experiments will be carried out. The PI has all the necessary skill sets to complete these analyses. 4. In the last year of our study, flies will be collected from multiple locations in NY and throughout the USA (by the PI and by collaborators in the multistate project). We anticipate making about 14 collections from across the USA. We (Cornell, NIU and PSU) will determine the levels of resistance to the seven most commonly used insecticides and we (Cornell) will determine the frequencies of the resistance mutations.