This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is providing better attractants for the Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina citri. The attractants can be combined with control products such as Spinosad to generate improved bait-and-kill stations. D. citri vectors greening disease and is the most serious pest faced by the US citrus industry. The psyllid has severely affected Florida citrus production, and has spread to Texas and California, where citrus is a billion-dollar industry with a history dating back to the 19th century. However, current control approaches lack effective attractants for use in bait-and-kill stations and traps. The approach described uses rational design to isolate compounds that bind to critical psyllid chemosensory proteins, and then identifies those compounds capable of attracting psyllids. These novel attractants can then be incorporated into bait-and-kill stations containing a control product such as Spinosad. This project incorporates several innovative platform technologies comprising a high throughput assay system for rapidly identifying molecules that interact with insect chemosensory proteins. The project also involves the development of a novel bait-and-kill station intended specifically to attract D. citri to a control agent capable of limiting psyllid populations. The broader impacts of this project are platform technologies applicable to the development of control products for insect pest species of economic, agricultural, or medicinal significance. A bait-and-kill station enhanced with a highly efficient attractant will provide crucial psyllid population control, and no commercial psyllid attractant currently exists. There is thus a serious need by the US citrus industry for such a product.
