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Fresh from the
Field is a weekly album showcasing transformative impacts made by
partners supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Editor: Falita Liles
April 26, 2018
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Success Stories
 California Biologists
Manipulate Genes to Control Invasive Fly
Biologists at the
University of California San Diego have developed a way to manipulate the genes
of an agricultural pest that has caused millions of dollars in damage to
high-value berry and other fruit crops. Research led by Anna Buchman, in the
lab of insect genetics professor Omar Akbari, describes the world’s first
mechanism for manipulating genetic inheritance in Drosophila suzukii, a fruit fly commonly known as the spotted-wing
drosophila. Buchman and her colleagues developed a so-called “gene drive”
system termed Medea (after the mythological Greek enchantress who killed her
offspring) to dramatically influence inheritance rates.
Native to Japan, the
highly invasive fly was first found on the West Coast in 2008 and has now been
reported in more than 40 states. The fly uses a sharp organ known as an
ovipositor to pierce ripening fruit and deposit eggs directly inside, making it
much more damaging than other flies that lay eggs only on top of decaying
fruit. Drosophila suzukii has
reportedly caused more than $39 million in revenue losses for the California
raspberry industry alone and an estimated $700 million overall per year in the United
States.
In experiments using the
new gene drive system, the researchers reported up to 100 percent effective
inheritance bias over 19 generations of flies; applications for the new gene
drive system could include spreading genetic elements that confer
susceptibility to certain environmental factors, such as temperature. If a
certain temperature is reached, for example, the genes within the modified
spotted wing flies would trigger its death. Other species of fruit flies would
not be impacted by this system.
NIFA supports this project with the Hatch Act Program.
Read
the full story at UC Davis News Center. Photo: Martin Hauser.
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News Coverage
4-H’ers Learn how to Open
a Cooperative Business
Teen 4-H’ers learned
firsthand how to form and operate a cooperative business at the annual Co-op
Youth Leadership Conference held April 6-8 at the Louisiana State University
(LSU) AgCenter.
The conference drew 90 teens
from across Louisiana for a weekend of workshops, interactive games, and fun
activities that encourage students to explore the cooperative way of doing
business.
4-H’ers learn what it
means to be a patron of a working cooperative by making an investment;
purchasing shares; and working together as a team to select a business name,
elect a board of directors and president, and hire a manager and employees to
form the co-op leadership.
NIFA supports the 4-H Program.
Read
the full article at LSU Ag Center. Photo by Karole Osborne/LSU Ag.
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The Library
 Study Provides Evidence of Parental Infanticide in a Grassland Bird Species
University of Illinois (UI) researchers didn’t
go looking for birds committing parental infanticide. They had been monitoring
dickcissel nests as part of a larger ongoing study examining the effects of
fire, grazing, and herbicide application on the grassland-dwelling species. The
team trained high-definition video cameras on the nests to monitor diet and
feeding behavior.
Baby birds go missing from their nests all the
time. Usually, the disappearances are chalked up to predation, but in extremely
rare cases, parents have been observed removing their own chicks from their
nests. The new study documents the mysterious and fatal behavior in dickcissels
for the first time.
Because it was a one-time observation and not
the goal of the original study, the researchers can’t prove their hypotheses.
But the discovery leaves open the possibility that parental infanticide is
happening more often than previously thought.
NIFA supports this research through
the Hatch Act Program.
Read the full article at the University of Illinois
News. Photo: Scott Nelson-UI.
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Tweet of the Week
#NIFAIMPACTS
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NIFA’s mission is to invest in and advance agricultural research, education, and extension that solve societal challenges. NIFA’s investments in transformative science directly support the long-term prosperity and global preeminence of U.S. agriculture. To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural sciences, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/Impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts.
USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
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