REVERSE CHEMICAL ECOLOGY TO ATTRACT GREEN LACEWINGS FOR IMPROVED BIOCONTROL EFFICIENCY

The long-term goal of this project is to increase the efficacy of green lacewings as biological control agents of agricultural pests by attracting and retaining them in crops. The specific objectives for this project build skills and tools in the chemical ecology in green lacewings while also identifying foundational information about semiochemical reception and production in these insects.1. Identify volatiles produced by Chrysoperla lacewings.Collect and identify volatile compounds produced by North American lacewings to generate a panel of compounds with the potential to attract lacewings.Characterize the extent to which volatile profiles vary by sex, species, and habit preferences.2. Characterize odorant binding proteins (OBPs) of Chrysoperla lacewings.Identify which Chrysoperla OBPs are involved in olfaction by antennal expression analysis.Assemble, annotate, and manually curate Chrysoperla OBPs for future molecular docking studies.Characterize expression and sequence evolution of OBPs in Chrysoperla.3. Apply computational molecular docking with lacewing odorant binding proteins.Test how simulated binding affinities between plant and prey volatiles and Chrysoperla sinica OBP1 compare to binding affinities measured in laboratory assays as a proof of concept for the potential of molecular docking in Chrysoperla.Compare binding affinities to plant and prey volatiles for Chrysoperla sinica and Chrysoperla carnea OBP1 to quantify functional conservation between these closely related species in similar ecological niches.