Molecular Biology in Pest Management

Dear Colleagues,

In a world of climatic and social challenges, and related changing eating habits, the health and environmental consequences of the persevered use of synthetic chemicals are triggering radical changes in the way we approach plant protection.

Farmers have always had to deal with pests but the intensification of agriculture and the simplification of agroecosystems heightened the damage to crops. To counteract the losses due to pests, farmers have applied chemical, physical and biological measures. The use of synthetic chemicals to control pests (pesticides) had striking effects and the practice quickly became widely used worldwide. Besides the beneficial effects on agricultural production, we are now fully aware of the health and environmental impact of pesticides, like environmental contamination (including effects on non-target species and water resources), residues in food and the onset of resistance.

We are also assisting to a great advance in molecular biology techniques, which could represent an alternative way to manage crop pests while preserving health and environment. These techniques are flexible and can be used in different ways, from uncovering genomic information to their direct employment in pest control. Through the exploration of these resources, we can aim to target pests with high-specificity and without the drawbacks of conventional techniques, enhancing the overall success of control programs.

This Special Issue will provide a forum on the use of molecular biology techniques in pest management science, with the aim to design novel environmental-friendly strategies to mitigate the impacts of pests on human activities. We welcome original research articles and reviews covering different aspects of this topic, from lab bench to the field. Papers addressing conceptual models, opinions, and policy aspects, are also encouraged.

Dr. Antonino Malacrinò
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• insects
• arthropod pests
• plant diseases
• IPM
• genomics
• transcriptomics
• sequencing
• CRISPR-Cas
• RNAi
• bioinformatics