Fighting Colorado potato beetle with RNA interference
Thursday, February 26, 2015 - 21:30
in Biology & Nature
Colorado potato beetles are a dreaded pest of potatoes. Since they do not have natural enemies in most regions, farmers try to control them with pesticides. However, this strategy is often ineffective because the pest has developed resistances against nearly all insecticides. Now, scientists have shown that potato plants can be protected from herbivory using RNA interference.