Cotton bollworm microbiome

The bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is an important agricultural pest in US cotton and is managed using transgenic hybrids that produce insecticidal proteins from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The reduced efficacy against H. zea caterpillars of Bt plants expressing Cry toxins is increasing in the field. In a first step towards understanding Bt cotton-bollworm-microbiome interactions, we investigated the internal bacterial microbiomes of second-third stadium H. zea collected in the field from non-Bt versus Bt (WideStrike) cotton in close proximity (in North Carolina, USA).