U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2008





- ARS News & Events
- AgResearch Magazine
- Image Gallery
- News
- Search News & Events
- Pesticide Drift May Endanger Pollinators
- ARS Seeks a Fire Ant Fix
- Scientific Discoveries 2024
- ARS Featured Photos
- Down on the Farm
- Facebook Live Events
- Food and Nutrition Research Briefs
- News Archive
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Social Media
- Under the Microscope
- AgResearch magazine
- ARS at Work
- ARS Memorial Lectures
- ARS Science Hall of Fame
- Citrus Disease (Huanglongbing)
- Contact Office of Communications
- Plant Hardiness Zone Map
- Mobile Apps
- Public Affairs Contacts
- Publications and Other Resources
- USDA Blog
- Videos

Archived Page
 This page has been archived and is being provided for reference purposes only. The page is no longer being updated, and therefore, links on the page may be invalid.
 Corn rootworm larva.Click the image for more information about it.For further readingTracking boll weevilsCorn rootworm on the movePersistent pests Corn Rootworm Population Studies: Faster, Cheaperand Just As Good By Ann Perry  May 19, 2008 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have led the way in finding a new technique to obtain genetic markers to sort out corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera) populations. This method is faster and cheaper than existing techniques, and it can be used to characterize genetic variation in any animal species. Entomologists Tom W. Sappington and Kyung Seok Kim work at the ARS Corn Insects and Crop Genetics Research Unit in Ames, Iowa. For this research, they partnered with ARS North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory entomologist B. Wade French in Brookings, S.D., and University of Illinois colleagues Susan T. Ratcliffe and Lei Liu. Researchers often use sections of DNA called short sequence repeats (SSRs) to study the interactions between different populations of the same species. Although they are superior genetic markers, SSRs are typically identified by random, expensive and time-consuming searches through the total DNA extracted from an individual organism. However, SSRs are also found in sections of DNA called expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Species-specific EST databases support genetic studies, including the identification of SSRs, in a range of plants and animals. The ARS team set out to resolve whether they could use SSRs obtained from existing corn rootworm EST databasesnot SSRs identified from individual DNAto study the genetic relationships of rootworm populations. The researchers developed two sets of SSRs. One set contained 17 SSRs developed using DNA from individual corn rootworms. The other set of 17 SSRs was created from an existing database of 6,397 corn rootworm ESTs. The scientists pitted the two sets in a head-to-head competition characterizing five western corn rootworm populations from around the United States and a Mexican corn rootworm population from Texas. They found that both sets could be used to assign individuals to the correct populations with up to 80 percent accuracy. These findings suggest that researchers studying population genetics can save time and money by using ESTs in existing databases to identify SSRs, instead of developing new SSRs from scratch. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov