Bruce E. Tabashnik

Regents' Professor & Department Head

brucet@cals.arizona.edu

520-621-1141

520-621-4081 (Lab)

Education

B.S. Zoology, University of Michigan
Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Stanford University

Background

My research team studies the evolution and management of insect resistance to crops genetically engineered for pest control. Current work focuses on resistance to insect-killing proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). These Bt proteins are highly effective against some key pests, but are not toxic to most other organisms including arthropod natural enemies, wildlife and people. Transgenic Bt corn and cotton have been planted by millions of farmers on a cumulative total of more than 2 billion acres worldwide during the past 25 years. Our work ranges from analyses of the genomics of resistance to global patterns of field-evolved resistance to Bt crops. Progress is facilitated by synergistic collaborations that benefit from expertise in molecular and population genetics, ecology, modeling, and pest management.

As Department Head, my goal is to strengthen departmental programs to achieve our mission:
• Conduct outstanding research to better understand insects and their impact on humanity
• Provide distinguished education in insect biology
• Provide innovative solutions to address critical issues such as food security and vector-borne diseases
• Develop and deploy the most advanced technologies and progressive IPM programs in the world to minimize the negative impacts of insects and maximize their positive impacts
• Provide outstanding outreach programs about insects accessible to all community members

Selected Publications

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=KvXPcMcAAAAJ&hl=en

Tabashnik, B. E., M. S. Sisterson, P. C. Ellsworth, et al. 2010. Suppressing resistance to Bt cotton with sterile insect releases. Nature Biotechnology 28: 1304-1307.

Tabashnik, B. E., T. Brévault and Y. Carrière. 2013. Insect resistance to Bt crops: lessons from the first billion acres. Nature Biotechnology 31: 510-521.

Carroll, S. P., P. Søgaard Jørgensen, M. T. Kinnison, C. T. Bergstrom, R. F. Denison, P. Gluckman, T. B. Smith, S. Y. Strauss and B. E. Tabashnik. 2014. Applying evolutionary biology to address global challenges. Science 346: 313, doi:10.1126/science.1245993.

Tabashnik, B. E. and Y. Carrière. 2017. Surge in insect resistance to transgenic crops and prospects for sustainability. Nature Biotechnol. 35: 926-935.

Wan, P., D. Xu, S.-B. Cong, Y.-Y. Jiang, Y. Huang, J.-T. Wang, H.-H. Wu, L. Wang, K.-M. Wu, Y. Carrière, A. Mathias, X. Li and B. E. Tabashnik. 2017. Hybridizing transgenic Bt cotton with non-Bt cotton counters resistance in pink bollworm. Proc. Nat’l. Acad. Sci. USA 114: 5413-5418.

Jin, L., J. Wang, F. Guan, J. Zhang, S. Yu, S. Liu, Y. Xue, L. Lia, S. Wu, X. Wang, Y. Yang, H. Abdelgaffarb, J. L. Jurat-Fuentes, B. E. Tabashnik and Y. Wu. 2018. Dominant point mutation in a tetraspanin gene associated with field-evolved resistance of cotton bollworm to transgenic Bt cotton. Proc. Nat’l. Acad. Sci. USA 115: 11,760-11,765.

Tabashnik, B. E. and Y. Carrière. 2019. Global patterns of resistance to Bt crops highlighting pink bollworm in the United States, China and India. J. Econ. Entomol. 112: 2513-2523.

Carrière, Y., Z. Brown, S. Aglasan, P. Dutilleul, M. Carroll, G. Head, B. E. Tabashnik, P. Søgaard Jørgensen and S. P. Carroll. 2020. Crop rotation mitigates impacts of corn rootworm resistance to transgenic Bt corn. Proc. Nat’l. Acad. Sci. USA: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/07/14/2003604117.

Fabrick, J. A., D. M. LeRoy, G. C. Unnithan, A. J. Yelich, Y. Carrière, X. Li, and B. E. Tabashnik. 2020. Shared and independent genetic basis of resistance to Bt toxin Cry2Ab in two strains of pink bollworm. Sci. Reports 10: 7988. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64811-w

Li, J., O. A. Harari, A.-L. Doss, L. L. Walling, P. W. Atkinson, S. Morin and B. E. Tabashnik. 2020. Can CRISPR gene drive work in pest and beneficial haplodiploid species? Evolutionary Applications: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eva.13032.

Bruce E. Tabashnik

Education

Background

Selected Publications

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