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Minutes of the 2001 Annual Meeting Biorational methods for insect pest management (IPM):Bio-organic and molecular approaches Location and Date: Granlibakken Resort, Tahoe City, CA on July 5-6, 2001.Participants: William Bowers - U. Arizona Gary Felton - Pennsylvania State University Michael Haverty - USDA Forest Service, Berkeley, CA Jocelyn Millar - U. California, Riverside Marion Page - USDA Forest Service, Berkeley, CA Ron Pardini - U. Nevada, Reno David Schooley - U. Nevada, Reno Steve Seybold - U. Minnesota Claus Tittiger - U. Nevada, Reno David Weaver - Montana State University William Welch - U. Nevada, Reno
Adopted Agenda: The meeting was held in the Mountain Room at Granlibakken Resort and Conference Center. Items 1-4 were dispatched during the evening of July 5; the remaining agenda items were dispatched throughout the day on July 6.
Item 1: Gary Felton welcomed all attendees and thanked W. Welch for organizing the meeting. He mentioned news on recent retirees, namely: W. Bowers “semi-retired” from U. Arizona; Marion Page retired from USDA; and Larry Jackson would be retiring later this year. M. Haverty moved that the order of speakers for Item 5 be changed so that he and M. Page would have consecutive presentations. Seconded by S. Seybold and approved unanimously.
Item 2: Administrative Advisor R. Pardini noted that the 1998 FARM bill requires that stations do both regional research and extension as part of their multi-state activities. He encouraged all members to note cooperative outreach in their reports and to contact stake holders in order to raise the visibility of these activities with them. S. Seybold asked if B. Cabrera had become a member of W-189 as an extension member and Pardini was under the impression that this was not so. J. Millar noted that many researchers undertake extension activities, though they are not formally published. Pardini noted that such activities raise the profile of the group and should thus be noted in reports. He recommended that an “Outreach/Extension Activities” section be created in annual reports in order to make these activities more visible. Pardini described a website maintained by USDA that catalogues a national database of impact statements from universities and recommended that a similar effort be made to raise awareness of extension activities by W-189. Multi-state projects are currently not well represented with respect to successes, benefits and productivity, or cumulative impacts. Thus, a multi-state impact page for W-189 showing clear documentation of collaborations and impact statements between States would greatly benefit governmental support since this type of information is used by legislators during funding decisions. W. Bowers suggested that the goals of the funding committee be anticipated so that efforts can be focused in that direction, but Pardini noted that a more natural approach to collaborations would likely be more fruitful. M. Page noted the difficulty of gaining the attention of a reluctant public that is largely ignorant of entomology. There was general agreement both with this fact and the need to address the problem through creative outreach. Page raised the idea of creating “education applications” in order to get the concepts of natural product pest control into the schools. Pardini noted that since “agriculture” has negative connotations among many people, there is a need to create a positive association with the Group’s work. This could be done by broadening the concept of agriculture to include household/human health scenarios (i.e. “urban entomology” and “urban forestry”). In these contexts, natural products for pest control would almost certainly be well received. S. Seybold enquired about the status of funding for agricultural research in the federal budget. Pardini noted the possibility that the 1890 University budget may be increased at the expense of NRI and repeated the need to raise awareness of agricultural research in legislatures. Pardini also noted the Coalition for Agricultural Research (CFAR), an initiative by the agricultural experimental station in Illinois that successfully lobbied the State for funds. A similar effort to raise the profile of extension stations would benefit them and, eventually, NRI. W. Bowers recounted a situation in Arizona in which the stations had contacted irrigation lobbyists and explained how their work benefitted agriculture in the State. This created the use of the irrigation lobbyists as a mechanism to bring extension issues to the attention of State legislatures. He recommended that existing groups with the ear of governments (i.e. their own lobbyists) be similarly contacted.
Item 3 S. Seybold presented an overview of the W-189 web site (http://www.ag.unr.edu/w189/). The site is currently being maintained by Robert Moore at UNR. Currently, the site is mostly textual and not well linked. There was general agreement that the site is not yet up to its full potential. All W-189 participants are encouraged to submit photos, suggestions for links to relevant sites, and links to their own projects. Seybold noted that placing the Annual Report (still not included on the page) on the site would improve visibility and impact. Suggestions for other improvements include: including more photos/diagrams; placing the abstracts of research reports as separate files instead of appending them onto the Annual Reports; structuring reports such that financial impacts and funding sources are more visible; cooperations/collaborations being made more visible through the use of hypertext; using hypertext to help explain the technologies we use; including links to annual reports and grant proposals as resources to assist in grant writing; and re-organizing the Home Page to include links to current research. W. Welch suggested appointing a W-189 member to ensure that the web page is reorganized and maintained. Seybold suggested that A. Cossé would be a good candidate, considering his considerable expertise in maintaining the International Society for Chemical Ecology web site.
Item 4 S. Seybold reported that he had been approached by members of the W-187 research group about the possibility of holding a joint meeting with W-189 with the objective of creating additional collaborative contacts. He suggested that such a meeting could be held in Reno in 2002 and requested that, rather than making a motion on the idea immediately, Attendees of the current meeting think about the idea and make a decision at the end of this conference. He then gave a guided tour of the W-187 web site (http://cnr.usu.edu/departments/forest/w187-2/), which is very well organized and could serve as a template for the W-189 site. He suggested also that W-189 members publish a book describing our collaborations. Pardini noted that a collaborative meeting would be favorably viewed by funding committees. The ensuing discussion centered about organizational details of a joint meeting. It was suggested that S. Seybold and the Chair work together on setting an agenda for the meeting. G. Felton then moved to adjourn the Meeting for the evening; and the motion was unanimously carried. The Meeting was rejoined following breakfast on July 6.
Item 5: W. Bowers reported on recent efforts to study the induction of phytoecdysteroids in response to stress. His group has found that photoecdysteroids in spinach and sugar beet are induced in response to mechanical wounding as well as predation by nematodes, fungus gnats, and black cut worm. Induction is localized to roots, and appears to have a protective effect against herbivorous insects. The results promise to allow a simple and effective diagnostic test for the induction of photoecdysteroids and could be used to trace new induction chemistries. G Felton reported on recent work characterizing suppressors of plant defensive secretions that may be found in the saliva of herbivorous insects. Nearly 50% of the protein in plant saliva is glucose oxidase (GOX), which appears to suppress polyphenol oxidases and nicotine production in tobacco. GOX also suppresses induced resistance and the release of jasmonate by the plant. His group has cloned GOX and glucose dehydrogenase cDNAs and found that they are expressed in labial and mandibular glands during feeding. Transgenic tobacco expressing the cDNAs have no visible phenotype, but do appear more resistant to insect damage, likely due to increased H2O2 production. J. Millar reported on efforts to identify a pheromone in various grape pests. A monitoring system based on the pheromone grape leaf folder, Desmia funeralis should be in place by the end of the year. His group has identified the pheromone of the vine mealy bug as a single-enantiomer monoterpenoid that could be synthesized and used for mating disruption. The stink bug pheromone has also been identified, however field studies using synthetic pheromone were not satisfactory, which lead to investigations of alternative communication methods. He has discovered that stink bugs transmit a vibrational song through the tissue of the plants and is now working to characterize the songs and build a “vibrational trap” for control. M. Haverty reported on the chemical systematics of termites and cone beetles. Investigations of cuticular hydrocarbons (HCs)showed that different castes within a colony had the same profile, but that there was a wide variation within species, suggesting cryptic species. The HC profiles seem to correlate with geographical location and seasonal time of flight, again suggesting reproductive isolation and supporting the hypothesis that there are different species. Current efforts include genetic studies to confirm the data. M. Page, in collaboration with M. Haverty, reported on HC profiles of morphologically cryptic termites (Reticulotermes) and bark beetles. In the termites, collected across the southern US, the HC profiles cluster into 26 groups the sort into 3 clades. The data suggest three lineages, with the different HC profiles likely resulting from different elongation, desaturation, and methyl-branching activities. Since these are controlled by different enzymes, genetic control of HC profiles is implicated, suggesting evidence of divergent and convergent evolution. D. Schooley presented data on isolating the diuretic and anti-diuretic hormones that control of H2O balance in M. sexta and Tenebrio molitor. M. sexta diuretic hormones are active on T. molitor malphigian tubules, but the T. molitor DHs do not affect M. sexta tubules. Remarkably, T. molitor DH is not amidated at the C-terminus, yet is still active. A antidiuretic peptide (ADF) has also be isolated. Its sequence is identical to the C-terminus of a cuticle protein, and similar to vertebrate endothelin. Work to characterize the physiology of these peptides is being pursued in collaboration with Sue Nicholson. All of these factors have potential utility in insect control methods. S. Seybold presented reported on work to determine efficient trapping methods of nitidulid beetles that are responsible for oak wilt disease. Although a three-terpenoid pheromone has been previously published, field work shows that bread dough seems to be required in traps as a source of synergistic odors. Work by his group in which individual components and blends of components is raising the possibility that the published pheromone may be incorrect. Further efforts to map the seasonal response to traps has lead to recommendations to modify pruning methods, and tests of oak volatiles in combination with sap beetle pheromone components has lead to the recommendation that leaving chips from pruning or processing does not significantly attract beetles. C. Tittiger presented molecular and biochemical data, collected through collaborations with G. Blomquist and S. Seybold, summarizing efforts to understand bark beetle pheromone biosynthesis and endocrine regulation. His group is working to isolate 5' flanking regions of an important, JH-responsive gene (HMG-R) in Dendroctonus jeffreyi and Ips pini. Progress on the EST (genomics) project in male I. pini was also presented, along with a description of how putative functions can be assigned to new sequences with the aid of computer modeling (in collaboration with W. Welch, UNR). A curious and likely unstable genetic element in the housefly delta-9 desaturase gene was also presented as evidence for a possible mechanism for pheromone-mediated speciation (stimulated by presentations by M. Haverty and M. Page). D. Weaver summarized work to characterize wheat sawfly (Cephus cintus) pheromones, in collaboration with R. Bartelt, A. Cossé, Xinzhi Ni, Sharlene Sing, Wendell Morrill, Justin Runyon. Behavioral field studies show that the insects use an unusual system of leks, with swarming behavior stimulated by both pheromones and light. Because sawfly eggs laid in wild oats die, work to understand this phenomenon revealed that wild oats have high hexenal acetate levels compared to young wheat. This information promises the possibility of developing buffer zones of toxic plants around valuable crops. W. Welch presented data on characterizing ryanodine receptors in insects. Ryanodol is a natural compound and a promising pesticide, since it is extremely toxic to insects, but not to vertebrates. Although the chemical acts at the ryanodine receptor, little is known about the protein in insects. Welch’s group is investigating the 3-D structure, mechanisms of modulation, and topology as an effort to develop rationally designed inhibitors to the protein. His work has lead to the identification of high and low affinity binding sites, and his group is now working to understand how their binding to ryanodol and nucleotides affects calcium passage through the receptor.
Item 6. G. Felton moved that the 2002 Annual Meeting be held in Reno, NV during October. After further discussion, the possibility of holding the meeting in Taos, NM, for 2003 was also raised. Officers for 2002: W. Welch was nominated for Chair, S. Seybold for Vice-Chair, and G. Blomquist for Secretary. All nominations were accepted unanimously by those present. M. Haverty was also nominated and unanimously elected to Vice Chair for 2003. All Attendees were reminded to include impact statements in their abstracts, including collaborations within and without the group, as well as publications. A discussion of funding opportunities for chemical ecology followed. It was mentioned that at a 2000 meeting, the Sloan Foundation pushed for more federal funding for chemical ecology research. At the moment, NRI funds 4.5 chemical ecology proposals per year; NSF doesn’t document their funding in the field, and NIH funds none, though has indicated that it would should the work be medically relevant. It was generally recognized that the W-189 initiative appears to lack a specific direction, and that there is a need to develop a coherent program. J. Millar reiterated the suggestion made at last year’s meeting that the creation of a chemical ecology database that would link structures with mass spectral data would be a useful, potentially USDA-funded endeavor. A second suggestion was to promote natural products chemistry as a complement to genomics research. G. Felton noted that the IFAFS initiative, which is multi-state and multi-discipline, may be phased out and it would be wise to position ourselves to fill the potential gap. It was also noted that, as a group, W-189 is too diverse to come under one umbrella, and it may therefore be premature to look for diversified funding. W. Bowers suggested inviting Board of Agriculture officials to our next meeting as a way to raise the group’s profile, and this was unanimously accepted as an excellent, if heavily belabored point. W. Welch reiterated the need to document all current and foreseeable collaborations both with respect to personnel and technologies.
Item 7. With no further items being raised, D. Weaver moved to close the meeting. The motion was unanimously accepted and the meeting adjourned at 20:45.
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