Speculative Species

In Speculative Evolution, we envisioned how species could be further developed to increase their resilience based on scientific publications on synthetic biology, genetic engineering and robotics, and formulated text prompts to create AI-generated images using DALL-E. As a result, each speculative species in the environment has a backstory rooted in real-life scenarios.
 
 


Citrus Red Mite
Citrus Red Mites
2019sterile insect technique improvements
Laboratory research by Alavijeh et al., 2019
2054mass release of sterile male red mites to suppress insect pest populations

Lineage of the 26 species from a total of 33

    • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-1Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-1)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-1-1Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-1-1)
        • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-1-1-1, Android 13, Sunset, United States (32-1-1-1)
        • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-1-1-2Samsung G955U, Android 9, Xi'an, China (32-1-1-2)
    • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-2)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-2)
        • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-2)
          • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1Samsung T227U, Android 13, Kissimmee, United States (32-2-1-1-1)
            • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1-1Samsung T720, Android 11, Pilar, Argentina (32-2-1-1-1-1)
              • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1-1-1Samsung T720, Android 11, Jose C. Paz, Argentina (32-2-1-1-1-1-1)
                • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1-1-1-1, Android 11, Sobral, Brazil (32-2-1-1-1-1-1-1)
                  • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1Samsung G955U, Android 9, , China (32-2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1)
              • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-1-1-1-2Samsung S928B, Android 14, São Paulo, Brazil (32-2-1-1-1-1-2)
        • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-2Samsung T720, Android 11, Pilar, Argentina (32-2-1-2)
          • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-2-1Samsung G950F, Android 9, São Paulo, Brazil (32-2-1-2-1)
            • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-2-1-1Samsung G950F, Android 9, São Paulo, Brazil (32-2-1-2-1-1)
            • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-2-1-2Samsung G955U, Android 9, , China (32-2-1-2-1-2)
            • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-1-2-1-3Samsung X200, Android 14, New Bedford, United States (32-2-1-2-1-3)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-2-2Samsung G950F, Android 9, São Paulo, Brazil (32-2-2)
    • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-3Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-3)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-3-1Samsung G955F, Android 9, Zurich, Switzerland (32-3-1)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-3-2Samsung G955U, Android 9, Xi'an, China (32-3-2)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-3-3Samsung G955U, Android 9, Xi'an, China (32-3-3)
    • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-8Samsung G950F, Android 9, São Paulo, Brazil (32-8)
      • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-8-1Samsung G955U, Android 9, Basel, Switzerland (32-8-1)
        • Citrus Red Mite, Species 32-8-1-1Samsung A055M, Android 14, Buenos Aires, Argentina (32-8-1-1)

Molecular and genetic analysis of resistance to METI-I acaricides in Iranian populations of the citrus red mite Panonychus citri

Alavijeh et al., 2019, sterile insect technique improvements doi:10.1016/j.pestbp.2019.12.009
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31461646/

Abstract

The citrus red mite, Panonychus citri, is a major pest on citrus all around the world. Mitochondrial Electron Transport Inhibitors of complex I (METI-I) acaricides such as fenpyroximate have been used extensively to control P. citri populations, which resulted in multiple reports of METI-I resistant populations in the field. In this study, biochemical and molecular mechanisms of fenpyroximate resistance were investigated in P. citri. Seven populations were collected from Northern provinces of Iran. Resistance ratios were determined and reached up to 75-fold in comparison to a fenpyroximate susceptible population. Cross-resistance to two additional METI-I acaricides, pyridaben and tebufenpyrad, was detected. PBO synergism experiments, in vivo enzyme assays and gene expression analysis suggest a minor involvement of cytochrome P450 monooxygenases in fenpyroximate resistance, which is in contrast with many reported cases for the closely related Tetranychus urticae. Next, we determined the frequency of a well-known mutation in the target-site of METI-Is, the PSST subunit, associated with METI-I resistance. Indeed, the H92R substitution was detected in a highly fenpyroximate resistant P. citri population. Additionally, a new amino acid substitution at a conserved site in the PSST subunit was detected, A94V, with higher allele frequencies in a moderately resistant population. Marker-assisted back-crossing in a susceptible background confirmed the potential involvement of the newly discovered A94V mutation in fenpyroximate resistance. However, introduction of the A94V mutation in the PSST homologue of D. melanogaster using CRISPR-Cas9 did not result in fenpyroximate resistant flies. In addition, differences in binding curves between METI-Is and complex I measured directly, in isolated transgenic and wildtype mitochondria preparations, could not be found.