Jack Kelly Clark, © University of California Statewide IPM Project

Entomologists from the USDA and the University of California at Riverside have applied for a USDA permit to conduct the first US field test of a GM insect in Arizona. Pectinophora gossypiella, the pink bollworm, is a lepidopteran pest whose larvae cost cotton farmers $24.6 million dollars in prevention, control, and yield losses each year. The primary method to control the pest is to release waves of sterile adults into the environment. If they successfully compete with the wild population to reproduce, the resulting offspring are sterile, thus ultimately decreasing subsequent larval infestation. However, there is no way to assess how many sterile offspring have been produced and so, to ensure effectiveness, approximately 60 sterile insects are released for every 1 that is wild—an inefficient and costly procedure. Because the transgenic bollworm expresses a jellyfish green fluorescent protein during the larval stage, the proportion of sterile larvae can be “seen,” enabling cotton growers to tailor the subsequent release of sterile insects accordingly. It is hoped this will reduce the number of sterile insects released up to twelve-fold. Before a permit is granted, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will consider comment on an environmental assessment, which is expected to be made public in April.