Tac–tics: Transposon-Based Biological Pest Management Systems

Grigliatti, Thomas A.; Meister, G A; Pfeifer, Tom

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-5799-1_18

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…In general, we suggest that the concept proposed previously (Pfeifer and Grigliatti, 1996;Grigliatti et al, 2001) be seriously considered for controlling weeds (i.e. to insert and disseminate transposons containing potentially deleterious genes), but how this will be done is a different question.…”

Section: Different Transposon Solutions For Different Weed Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The original transposons with armed cassette-targeted insect control strategy (TAC-TICS) concept was to engineer a lethal gene under the control of an inducible promoter into a transposon and then engineer the transposon in multiple copies into the insect pest (Pfeifer and Grigliatti, 1996;Grigliatti et al, 2001) or Striga hermonthica (Gressel and Levy, 2000) and release individuals into the field. These transposons introgress into multiple loci on many chromosomes, which results in their dispersal in all progeny.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The advantage of multicopy transposons is that all or almost all progeny of matings and their further backcrosses as well as selfed progeny contain the transposon and not just a fraction of the population, 75% by selfing and only 50% by outcrossing, as with single-copy Mendelian genes. In one laboratory experiment, 90% of the insect population contained the inactive, potentially lethal transposon-carried gene, six generations after introduction of a few multicopy transposon-carrying insects into the population (Grigliatti et al, 2001). The gene can be chemically activated at some point after dissemination, decimating the pest population.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Use of Multicopy Transposons Bearing Unfitness Genes in Weed Control: Four Example Scenarios

Gressel

Levy

2014

Plant Physiology

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We speculate that multicopy transposons, carrying both fitness and unfitness genes, can provide new positive and negative selection options to intractable weed problems. Multicopy transposons rapidly disseminate through populations, appearing in approximately 100% of progeny, unlike nuclear transgenes, which appear in a proportion of segregating populations. Different unfitness transgenes and modes of propagation will be appropriate for different cases: (1) outcrossing Amaranthus spp. (that evolved resistances to major herbicides); (2) Lolium spp., important pasture grasses, yet herbicide-resistant weeds in crops; (3) rice (Oryza sativa), often infested with feral weedy rice, which interbreeds with the crop; and (4) self-compatible sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), which readily crosses with conspecific shattercane and with allotetraploid johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense). The speculated outcome of these scenarios is to generate weed populations that contain the unfitness gene and thus are easily controllable. Unfitness genes can be under chemically or environmentally inducible promoters, activated after gene dissemination, or under constitutive promoters where the gene function is utilized only at special times (e.g. sensitivity to an herbicide). The transposons can be vectored to the weeds by introgression from the crop (in rice, sorghum, and Lolium spp.) or from planted engineered weed (Amaranthus spp.) using a gene conferring the degradation of a no longer widely used herbicide, especially in tandem with an herbicide-resistant gene that kills all nonhybrids, facilitating the rapid dissemination of the multicopy transposons in a weedy population.

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Section: Different Transposon Solutions For Different Weed Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Use of Multicopy Transposons Bearing Unfitness Genes in Weed Control: Four Example Scenarios

Gressel

Levy

2014

Plant Physiology

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“…Other selfish genetic elements, such as transposons, may be able to be developed to control rabbits (Burt 2003;Grigliatti et al 2007). Transposons are mobile genetic elements that can move and integrate into different locations within the genome; some can insert copies of themselves elsewhere in the genome through replicative transposition.…”

Section: The Possible Use Of Genetically Modified Organisms As Biologmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As with HEGs, safety is a key issue that in practice may only be resolved through attempts to apply biotechnology to controlling human diseases such as malaria . Current indications are that HEGs may be less likely to transfer horizontally to non-target species of vertebrates than transposons (Goddard et al 2006;Grigliatti et al 2007), and Burt (2003) argues that HEGs also offer several other advantages.…”

Section: The Possible Use Of Genetically Modified Organisms As Biologmentioning

confidence: 99%

The future biological control of pest populations of European rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus

2008

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Abstract. European rabbits are exotic pests in Australia, New Zealand, parts of South America and Europe, and on many islands. Their abundance, and the damage they cause, might be reduced by the release of naturally occurring or genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that act as biological control agents (BCAs). Some promising pathogens and parasites of European rabbits and other lagomorphs are discussed, with special reference to those absent from Australia as an example of the range of necessary considerations in any given case. The possibility of introducing these already-known BCAs into areas where rabbits are pests warrants further investigation. The most cost-effective method for finding potentially useful but as-yet undiscovered BCAs would be to maintain a global watch on new diseases and pathologies in domestic rabbits. The absence of wild European rabbits from climatically suitable parts of North and South America and southern Africa may indicate the presence there of useful BCAs, although other explanations for their absence are possible. Until the non-target risks of deploying disseminating GMOs to control rabbits have been satisfactorily minimised, efforts to introduce BCAs into exotic rabbit populations should focus on naturally occurring organisms. The development of safe disseminating GMOs remains an important long-term goal, with the possible use of homing endonuclease genes warranting further investigation.

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The Importance of Insects

Scudder

2017

Insect Biodiversity

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Tac–tics: Transposon-Based Biological Pest Management Systems

Cited by 10 publications

References 75 publications

Use of Multicopy Transposons Bearing Unfitness Genes in Weed Control: Four Example Scenarios

Use of Multicopy Transposons Bearing Unfitness Genes in Weed Control: Four Example Scenarios

The future biological control of pest populations of European rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus

The Importance of Insects

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