Endosymbiont-based strategies in insect pest control: Innovations and applications

Abstract

Insects maintain close relationships with a diverse range of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and protozoa. These microbes, which can live on the insect’s surface or inside their bodies, often play essential roles in insect development, survival, and adaptability. While traditional microbial pest control has focused on a limited number of insect-pathogenic microbes, recent advancements in sequencing technologies, functional genomics, and gene editing have broadened our understanding of insect-microbe interactions. This has opened new possibilities for pest management by targeting the microbes that influence insect biology and behavior. Endosymbionts, in particular, contribute significantly to insect fitness by enhancing stress tolerance, offering protection against diseases, improving plant interactions, and even conferring pesticide resistance. Some also manipulate insect reproduction through mechanisms like male killing, feminization, and cytoplasmic incompatibility traits that can be leveraged for novel control methods. Emerging strategies, such as paratransgenesis, microbe-based attractants, and RNAi-driven gene targeting, show promise when integrated with existing pest control techniques. These approaches offer a more targeted, sustainable, and adaptable solution for managing pest populations in a rapidly changing environment. This review provides an overview of recent advances in insect-microbe interactions and highlights their potential applications in modern pest control strategies.