Sequencing technology will provide a good method for identifying the origin and prevention of pests

The diamondback moth, also known as the small green worm or two pointed, mainly causes harm to cruciferous plants such as cauliflower, cabbage, cauliflower, rapeseed, mustard, etc. It is recognized worldwide as a killer of cruciferous plants. So far, except for no record of its survival in Antarctica, signs of its survival have been found in other regions of the world. Based on this, diamondback moth is considered a widely distributed world-class pest.

Due to the tenacious vitality and extremely strong reproductive ability of this pest, it has also developed high drug resistance during its evolution, making prevention and control work very difficult. Even in the cold winter, they don't give up and turn to greenhouses, nibbling on them to their heart's content without any signs of picky eating. They gnaw on vegetables until they are riddled with holes, and in severe cases, their entire leaves are eaten into a mesh. Not only do they eat mature vegetables, even during the seedling stage, they can also harm the heart leaves and affect the pericardium. Even on retained plants, they can harm tender stems, young pods, and seeds.

Therefore, the diamondback moth gradually replaced the cabbage worm and became the number one killer of vegetables. The diamondback moth has a large area of harm to vegetables, a long time of committing crimes, and has developed extremely high resistance to various chemical agents, making prevention and control work very difficult. The annual crop yield reduction and control costs caused by diamondback moths amount to 4 to 5 billion US dollars. This type of pest also causes great headaches for farmers.

For this reason, many scholars have conducted in-depth research on it, even based on the distribution of cruciferous plants and parasitic natural enemies of diamondback moth. These scholars have also proposed hypotheses that diamondback moth originated from the Mediterranean coast, South Africa, and China. However, the origin of the diamondback moth has been subject to various controversies due to the lack of conclusive scientific evidence.

On May 8, 2020, the journal Nature Communications published an online study on the origin and evolutionary history of the diamondback moth, identifying its identity and ending the controversy surrounding its origin. It is understood that this project is a research achievement of Plutella xylostella population jointly completed by the State Key Laboratory for Ecological Control of Crop Pests in Fujian and Taiwan of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, together with university research institutions and units from many countries, such as Huada, the University of British Columbia, Brooke University, Melbourne University, Adelaide University, Tianjin University, Charlotte University, the British Museum and so on.

The research team has been conducting research since 2012, and between 2012 and 2014, they collected 114 sample punctuation points from 55 countries and regions across six continents. Among them, approximately 5 samples of diamondback moth were collected at each sampling point. Subsequently, the researchers used short read long sequencing technology to sequence the entire genome of over 500 sampled individuals of diamondback moth. Through the analysis of sequencing data, it was found that the individual single nucleotide polymorphisms of diamondback moth exhibit regional diversity, with a low proportion of common single nucleotide polymorphisms and a pattern of genomic variation. These characteristics all indicate the high-level polymorphism of the diamondback moth genome, which is also an important factor for the diamondback moth to successfully expand and adapt to different regional environments.

This time, they analyzed the origin of diamondback moth in South America by using whole genome sequencing technology and combining lineage geography research methods, and finally concluded that the origin of diamondback moth is in South America, rewriting previous biological hypotheses about the origin and evolutionary history of diamondback moth, and pointing out the direction for finding effective biological control predators. At the same time, the genetic basis for its adaptability to the environment and pesticides was analyzed, providing important scientific basis for the emergence, evolution, and management of diamondback moth resistance.

In fact, whole genome sequencing technology, as an individual genome sequencing technique for species with unknown genome sequences, has many other applications in the field of biology, such as the current popular gene sequencing assisted cancer treatment method. With the development of sequencing technology and the integration of knowledge in the field of life sciences, the gene sequencing industry will also create higher value for people, and the industry prospects are promising.

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