Improving the Boll Weevil Molecular Toolbox: A Better Transcriptome for the Advancement of Gene-Level Control

Boll weevil eradication is considered mostly complete in the U.S. except for an active quarantine area in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas. Weevils moving from this region pose a threat to eradicated areas, thus when re-infestations occur it is important to understand how a captured weevil arrived there. For example, if a few weevils were transported to an eradicated area and then reproduced locally, the captured weevils should be closely related to each other. On the other hand, if a large group of weevils with mixed genotypes moved to an eradicated area, most of the captured weevils should not be related. Here we describe and compare two software packages (Coancestry and SNPrelate) that use large SNP datasets to calculate relatedness and apply them to a recent reinfestation in Kingsville, TX. This data will give insight into the demography of a reinfestations and can potentially be used to modify or create policies to prevent future infestations.