INSECTS ARE A MAJOR THREAT TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION. IN ADDITION TO FEEDING ON PLANTS, SOME INSECTS TRANSMIT PATHOGENS TO CROPS, CAUSING EVEN MORE DAMAGE. THUS, CONTROLLING INSECT PESTS IS ESSENTIAL FOR SUSTAINED AND HEALTHY CROP PRODUCTION. AS INSECTS DEVELOP RESISTANCE TO COMMON FORMS OF PEST CONTROL LIKE INSECTICIDES, OUR ABILITY TO CONTROL THE DAMAGE TO CROPS LESSENS. NOVEL FORMS OF PEST CONTROL ARE NEEDED TO COMBAT THE ONGOING RISE IN INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE. OUR LAB FOCUSES SPECIFICALLY ON THE SQUASH BUG, ANASA TRISTIS, A MAJOR PEST OF SQUASH, PUMPKINS, AND SIMILAR CROPS THAT TRANSMITS BACTERIA THAT CAUSE CUCURBIT YELLOW VINE DISEASE (CYVD) TO PLANTS. PREVIOUSLY, WE HAVE ESTABLISHED THAT SPECIFIC GUT MICROBES IN THE SQUASH BUG PREVENT CYVD-CAUSING BACTERIA FROM STICKING AROUND IN SQUASH BUGS. THESE RELATIVELY SHORT-LIVED CYVD INFECTIONS IN BUGS COULD HAVE MAJOR IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR ABILITY TO TRANSMIT CYVD TO PLANTS LATER ON. WITH THIS GRANT, WE PROPOSE TO INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL TO USE THE SQUASH BUGS' OWN GUT BACTERIA TO INTERRUPT CYVD TRANSMISSION. TO ACCOMPLISH THIS, WE WILL COMPARE DIFFERENCES IN CYVD PLANT INFECTION RATES BETWEEN BUGS WITH AND WITHOUT THESE GUT BACTERIA. USING THESE DATA, WE WILL THEN RUN SIMULATIONS TO SEE HOW OUR EXPERIMENTS ON INDIVIDUAL BUGS TRANSLATE TO FIELDS OF PLANTS WITH LARGER POPULATIONS OF BUGS. RESULTS FROM THESE SIMULATIONS WILL INFORM THE FEASIBILITY OF SCALING UP OUR RESEARCH TO FIELD TRIALS AND FURTHER ADVANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL PEST CONTROL METHOD.