Researchers Restore Corn’s Ability to Combat “Billion-dollar Bug”

Scientists have reportedly restored a genetic trait to North American corn that causes the roots to emit a chemical distress signal when under attack by western corn rootworm, a beetle species known as the “billion-dollar bug” for its widespread crop destruction. Jörg Degenhardt, et al., “Restoring a maize root signal that attracts insect-killing nematodes to control a major pest,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, August 3, 2009. Researchers inserted oregano genes into domestic corn to reconstruct the defense mechanism, which once existed in most maize varieties and still persists in some European corn. This underground SOS apparently attracts parasitic roundworms, or nematodes, to feed upon the beetle larvae, resulting in yields with less root damage and 60 percent fewer adult beetles compared to unmodified crops.

“We used a controversial approach, with genetic engineering, to enhance a very much favored [among environmentalists] approach, which is biological control,” one study author was quoted as saying. “This is probably the first study to demonstrate that the two are compatible.” See NationalGeographic.com, August 3, 2009.