Production of a biopesticide on host and Non-Host serine protease inhibitors for red palm weevil in palm trees.

Serine proteases are essential metabolic enzymes in the midgut of many pests, including the red palm weevil (RPW), , which has a significant impact economically, environmentally and socially worldwide especially in the middle east. Some methods have been used to manage this pest such as trapping of RPW with pheromones, chemicals, and X-rays. However, these methods are costly, not effective and negatively impact the human.

Global transcriptome profiling and functional analysis reveal that tissue-specific constitutive overexpression of cytochrome P450s confers tolerance to imidacloprid in palm weevils in date palm fields.

Background: Cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenases (P450s), constituting one of the largest and oldest gene superfamilies found in many organisms from bacteria to humans, play a vital role in the detoxification and inactivation of endogenous toxic compounds. The use of various insecticides has increased over the last two decades, and insects have developed resistance to most of these compounds through the detoxifying function of P450s. In this study, we focused on the red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, the most devastating pest of palm trees worldwide, and demonstrated through functional analysis that upregulation of P450 gene expression has evolved as an adaptation to insecticide stress arising from exposure to the neonicotinoid-class systematic insecticide imidacloprid.

Silencing the Olfactory Co-Receptor RferOrco Reduces the Response to Pheromones in the Red Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus.

The red palm weevil (RPW, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus), one of the most widespread of all invasive insect pest species, is a major cause of severe damage to economically important palm trees. RPW exhibits behaviors very similar to those of its sympatric species, the Asian palm weevil (R. vulneratus), which is restricted geographically to the southern part of Southeast Asia.

Identification of the genes involved in odorant reception and detection in the palm weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, an important quarantine pest, by antennal transcriptome analysis.

Background: The Red Palm Weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliver) is one of the most damaging invasive insect species in the world. This weevil is highly specialized to thrive in adverse desert climates, and it causes major economic losses due to its effects on palm trees around the world. RPWs locate palm trees by means of plant volatile cues and use an aggregation pheromone to coordinate a mass-attack.