For some MSU researchers, an analyzed bug in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Professors Robert Hollingworth and Ke Dong are researching possible answers to the question of how insects become resistant to pesticides.
Hollingworth, a professor of entomology, said he and Professor Dong are interested in the biochemistry and genetics of how populations of insects change and mutate in the field.
“A population of insects starts off where a percentage are killed by insecticides, but by sheer chance, mutations allow some of them to become resistant to the insecticides,” Hollingworth said. “They adapt to break down the insecticides faster or to create genes that make them insensitive to them.”
Hollingworth said he has studied insect immunity since the 1960s, d.
“You start out with one-in-a-million chances that (an insect) is resistant,” Hollingworth said. “After all of the susceptible ones die out, the ones with resistant genes have a large advantage and they become dominant over generations.”
Dong, an assistant professor of entomology, said she has been conducting this research for more than 10 years because pesticide resistance is a major problem.
“We want to identify mutations so we can monitor insect resistance in the field,” Dong said. “The idea is to develop more new chemicals that can control already resistant insects.”
Part of her research involves cloning gene sequences in cockroaches to understand their resistance mechanisms, she said.
“We are using the German cockroach as an example,” she said. “And we are focusing on this insect because its resistance factors are prevalent in many other species.”
Hollingworth said he researches from the biology and physiology point of view, while Dong works on molecular genetics and gene sequences.
“We are trying to figure out what can be done to slow down resistance in the field from a practical point of view,” Hollingworth said. “We bring some different skills and perspectives to the research.
“It’s a nice partnership in that regard.”
Edward Grafius, chairperson of the Department of Entomology, said the research project is very important to MSU as an agricultural school, and from other perspectives as well.
“Pesticide resistance is a big problem because insects are always adapting to the insecticides we use,” Grafius said. “It’s a serious problem in not only agriculture but also medical entomology because of the way insects spread diseases.”
A lot of time and money goes into producing insecticides, Hollingworth said. But he asked the question: what happens 10 years down the road when the chemical doesn’t work anymore?
“That’s why it’s so important to find out how resistance to these chemicals works,” Hollingworth said. “Because we would like to be able to advise growers on how resistance to pesticides works.”
