Researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station have assembled the first high-quality, chromosome-scale reference genome for the rice stink bug, a pest that affects Arkansas rice and other crops.
The Arkansas Biosciences Institute-funded study identified more than 13,000 genes in the insect Oebalus pugnax, including gene families associated with plant feeding, host adaptation, detoxification and potential insecticide resistance. The reconstructed genome contains about 826 million base pairs.
Researchers said the genome is a starting point for future monitoring and management studies rather than a finished control method. Earlier work found genetic movement among rice stink bug populations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida and Cuba; the new resource will help test how the pest adapts to rice-production systems.
