Forget pesticides, fungicides, slash-and-burn clearing and quarantine and all those other methods currently used to rid plants of destructive insects, viruses and pests. The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) proposes creating vast armies of friendly genetically modified insects to protect agricultural food supplies and commodity crops.

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A new DARPA program is poised to provide an alternative to traditional agricultural threat response, using targeted gene therapy to protect mature plants within a single growing season.

DARPA proposes to use a natural and very efficient two-step delivery system to transfer modified genes to plants; insect vectors and the plant viruses they transmit.

In the process, DARPA aims to transform certain insect pests into "Insect Allies," the name of the new program.

Insect Allies has three technical areas -- trait design, insect vector optimization, and selective gene therapy in mature plants. These areas are combined to support the goal of rapidly transforming mature plants to protect against natural or intentional agricultural disruption without the need for extensive infrastructure.

"Insects eat plants and insects transmit the majority of plant viruses," said Blake Bextine, the DARPA program manager for Insect Allies.

"DARPA plans to harness the power of this natural system by engineering genes inside plant viruses that can be transmitted by insects to confer protective traits to the target plants they feed upon."

The most valuable crops in the world in 2012 were rice, wheat, soybeans, tomatoes, sugar cane, corn, potatoes, fresh vegetables, and grapes, said the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization.

In the United States, the most valuable crops were corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, almonds, tomatoes, grapes, potatoes, rice, strawberries, and lettuce/chicory, and apples.

Disruptions to the production of staple crops such as rice, wheat, and corn can jeopardize food security and destabilize agricultural economies.

One of the most effective existing methods for protecting plants-selective breeding of disease resistance -- typically involves five to seven years of work to identify the relevant protective genes and another 10 years or more to propagate the desired traits throughout plant populations.

Insect Allies aims to effect the expression of desired traits within a single season.

Performers will be challenged to develop compatible systems of naturally occurring plant viruses, herbivorous insects, and target crops, then genetically tune these systems to maximize transmission and uptake of traits across the entire target plant population with zero transmission to non-target plants.

"Genetic modification of plants has historically been done only to plant embryos inside of laboratories using tissue cultures," said Bextine. "Transforming mature plants en masse would be an enormous achievement and pave the way for future breakthroughs in agriculture."

Insect Allies will emphasize biosafety and biosecurity. All work will be conducted inside closed laboratories, greenhouses, or other secured facilities.

TagsDefense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, Insect Allies, targeted gene therapy, Plants, Insects, pests, crops