INTEGRATION OF NOVEL ATTRACTANTS INTO BAIT AND KILL STATIONS FOR CONTROL OF THE ASIAN CITRUS PSYLLID

Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP) vectors citrus greening disease and is thus the most serious pest faced by the US citrus industry. The ACP has already severely affected Florida citrus production, has entered Texas, and is spreading into California, where citrus is a billion-dollar industry with a history dating back to the 19th century. However, current control approaches lack effective attractants for use in bait-and-kill stations and traps. The approach described uses rational design to isolate compounds that bind to critical ACP chemosensory proteins, and then identifies those compounds capable of attracting ACP. These novel attractants can then be incorporated into bait-and-kill stations containing a control product such as Spinosad. This project incorporates several novel platform technologies comprising a high throughput assay system for rapidly identifying molecules that interact with insect chemosensory proteins.

A variety of molecular and behavioral techniques will be used throughout the project.