Team:Kyoto/Description

Description

We aim to combat pine wilt disease caused by Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (pine wood nematode). To counter this problem, we plan to use genetically engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae that express dsRNA, and feed them to the pine wood nematodes (feeding RNAi) to knock down genes which are essential for their survival. Our ultimate goal is to establish a method of eradicating pine wilt disease without killing Monochamus alternatus (longhorn beetle), which acts as a carrier for nematodes and is an indigenous species of Japan.