** AWARDS ISSUED PRIOR TO JANUARY 20, 2025, WERE FUNDED UNDER PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS AND MAY NOT REFLECT THE PRIORITIES AND POLICIES OF THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION.** AS CROP YIELDS BECOME MORE VARIABLE IN RESPONSE TO GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE, IT IS IMPERATIVE TO PRIORITIZE THE PROTECTION OF COMMODITIES AFTER HARVEST FROM STORED PRODUCT INSECT DAMAGE TO PRESERVE FOOD SECURITY. POST-HARVEST FOOD SECURITY RELIES ON INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES TO REDUCE PEST POPULATION LEVELS WHICH INCLUDES SANITATION, THE APPLICATION OF INSECTICIDES OR FUMIGANTS TO REDUCING PEST POPULATIONS, AND BEHAVIORAL BASED MANAGEMENT APPLICATIONS. BEHAVIORALLY BASED MANAGEMENT PRACTICES EXPLOIT BEHAVIOR TO DETECT AND MANIPULATE PEST POPULATIONS USING VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS, SUCH AS PHEROMONES AND KAIROMONES PRODUCED BY CONSPECIFICS AND FOOD SOURCES, RESPECTIVELY. ONE OF THE MOST DAMAGING COSMOPOLITAN STORED PRODUCT PESTS PLODIA INTERPUNCTELLA (INDIANMEAL MOTH; IMM) STRONGLY RELIES ON PHEROMONES AND KAIROMONES TO LOCATE MATES AND HABITATS FOR FEEDING AND OVIPOSITION. IN SOME ENVIRONMENTS, FLOOD THE ENVIRONMENT WITH PHEROMONE TO MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO FIND MATES IS COMMONLY USED TO REDUCE PEST POPULATION. THIS TACTIC IS KNOWN AS MATING DISRUPTION AND ALTHOUGH IT CAN BE VERY EFFECTIVE IN SOME ENVIRONMENTS, ITS EFFICACY CAN BE VARIABLE DUE TO GENETIC DIFFERENCES THAT ALLOW FOR SOME MALES TO OVERCOME THE INCREASED PHEROMONE AMONG MOTH POPULATIONS. IMM USES OLFACTORY PROTEIN RECEPTORS EXPRESSED IN ANTENNAE TO PERCEIVE THESE COMPOUNDS; HOWEVER, LITTLE WORK HAS BEEN DONE TO IDENTIFY AND CHARACTERIZE THE FUNCTION OF THE RECEPTOR GENES THAT INFLUENCE IMM ATTRACTION TO VOLATILES.TO UNDERSTAND HOW IMM PERCEIVES AND RESPONDS TO PHEROMONES AND FOOD VOLATILES, WE WILL FIRST CURATE GENES WITH PREDICTED INVOLVEMENT IN OLFACTION FROM A GENOME ASSEMBLY GENERATED BY THE USDA-ARS AG100PEST INITIATIVE. GENES WILL BE PREDICTED USING A COMPUTATIONAL PIPELINE, BUT THESE PREDICTIONS WILL BE REFINED AND EXPANDED USING GENE MODELS FROM OTHER CLOSELY RELATED MOTH SPECIES AS GUIDES. IN ADDITION, GENE EXPRESSION DATASETS FROM IMM ANTENNAE AND OTHER CHEMOSENSORY ORGANS WILL BE USED TO FIND NEW GENE MODELS IN THIS SPECIES THAT MAY NOT BE FOUND IN OTHER MOTH SPECIES. GENES WHOSE EXPRESSION LEVELS CORRELATE WITH RESPONSES TO PHEROMONE AND FOOD OILS WILL BE IDENTIFIED USING HIGH THROUGHPUT GENE EXPRESSION EXPERIMENTS (RNA-SEQ). IN BRIEF, THE RESPONSIVENESS OF MATED AND UNMATED MALES AND FEMALES TO PHEROMONES WILL BE MONITORED OVER THEIR LIFE SPAN TO IDENTIFY PERIODS OF RESPONSIVENESS AND LOW RESPONSIVENESS. GENE EXPRESSION OF INDIVIDUALS FROM HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TREATMENTS WILL BE COMPARED TO LOWLY RESPONSIVE TREATMENTS TO IDENTIFY GENES THAT ARE IMPORTANT FOR THE PERCEPTION OF PHEROMONES. IN ADDITION, A SIMILAR EXPERIMENT WILL BE PERFORMED USING VOLATILES COLLECTED FROM FLOUR, WHICH IS A HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE FOOD SOURCE TO IDENTIFY GENES THAT ARE IMPORTANT FOR THE PERCEPTION OF PHEROMONES. THE FUNCTION OF AT LEAST TWO GENES WILL BE VALIDATED USING GENE EDITING APPROACHES TO DETERMINE WHETHER DISRUPTING GENE FUNCTION WILL DISRUPT IMM'S ABILITY TO PERCEIVE AND RESPOND,TO PHEROMONES AND FOOD VOLATILES.INTERFERING WITH AN INSECT'S ABILITY TO FIND FOOD OR ITS MATES MAY BE EXPLOITED TO IMPROVE TRAPS USED FOR MONITORING INSECT ACTIVITY OR TO ALTER INSECT MOVEMENT AND BEHAVIOR THROUGH NEW STRATEGIES OF PREVENTION BY MANIPULATING THE INSECT'S MOVEMENT AWAY FROM STORAGE STRUCTURES GRAIN BINS, ELEVATORS, FOOD PROCESSING FACILITIES, AND WAREHOUSES AND TOWARD A DESIRED AREA LIKE A TRAP. FURTHERMORE, THIS RESEARCH CAN ALSO HELP DETERMINE WHETHER GENETIC DIFFERENCES AMONG POPULATIONS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VARIABLE EFFICACY OF BEHAVIORALLY BASED MANAGEMENT. OVERALL, THIS STUDY HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES FOR POST-HARVEST FOOD SECURITY AND SHEDS LIGHT ON THE GENETIC FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE INSECT BEHAVIOR.