Fighting pests with their own genetics

The fight against pests, diseases, feral animals and weeds and the threat they pose to Queensland’s agricultural production is being aided by the latest genetic analysis technology.

Agriculture Minister Bill Byrne said a $400,000 Next Generation Sequencer is significantly speeding-up the development of new diagnostic tests and providing scientists with insights not previously available.

“This is cutting edge technology and it is not surprising that has been so warmly welcomed by AgForce and the Invasive Species Council,” the Minister said.

“It gives our staff at the Biosecurity Sciences Laboratory at Coopers Plains access to a wide range of information such as the health of pest populations and genetic links between different groups of a particular pest.

“It widens the range of species scientists can study and allows them to better understand how new diseases infect plants and animals.

“The Palaszczuk Government is committed to strengthening Queensland’s biosecurity system and response capability and the gene sequencer is an important acquisition.

“It is another example of the action we are taking to improve our biosecurity for the present and the future,” said Minister Byrne.

AgForce General President Grant Maudsley said feral pests, diseases and weeds cost the Queensland agricultural sector hundreds of millions of dollars every year so new tools and technological advances to assist in the biosecurity battle were always very welcome.

“Just like DNA barcoding of humans is used by police to solve crimes, genetic markers can be used by biosecurity scientists to confirm links and relationships when new weed and disease outbreaks occur, which in turn helps manage and minimize future outbreaks,” he said.

“This new DNA science is essential to rapidly identify new agricultural diseases and viruses which affect the production of our high quality, safe and clean food and fibre.”

Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox has also welcomed the government’s commitment to biosecurity research.

“This important cutting edge investment will be invaluable for Queensland's biosecurity system,” Mr Cox said.

“The Invasive Species Council is pleased to see the Queensland government’s pro-active approach to biosecurity research and development for more rapid responses and to better understand invasive pest species pathways.

“It’s a smart move to take advantage of the latest technology.”

Initial projects using the NGS include:

• developing rapid diagnostics for new pests and diseases
• identifying what environments diseases thrive in so we can change that environment to fight the disease
• developing genetic markers for invasive weeds to confirm if they are linked to known infestations or whether they are a new incursion
• investigating the pathways of infection in aquaculture to strengthen prevention and management of disease outbreaks
• investigating the Mycobacteria responsible for Johne’s disease
• identifying/classifying animal viruses that have not been identified using conventional methods
• determining the genetic health of fire ants in Queensland to assess the progress of eradication.

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