Psyllid vision.

Insects contain visual sensory systems to assist them in food foraging, mating, predator detection and navigation. Remarkably, most have been found to perceive ultraviolet light, polarized light, and color vision. To some degree, this has been taken advantage of with the development of pest control devices like yellow sticky traps or UV-light traps. Understanding the biochemistry of visual perception in insects poses a challenge due to their extremely small size, however Drosophila melanogaster has been thoroughly characterized whereas insect-vector species’ vision is less understood. Our aim in this project is to elucidate the physiological components critical for psyllid vision using HPLC, LC-MS, RNA-seq, and microinjection techniques. By identifying the responsible genes, protein networking, and the identification of products (dsRNA, chemistries, CRISPR), we expect to block the insect vision and deter pests (Potato psyllid and Asian citrus psyllid) from navigating onto crops.