Omics in the Red Palm Weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae): A Bridge to the Pest

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The red palm weevil (RPW) Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a species of beetle that depends on palm trees to complete its life cycle. RPW larvae feed on the palm tree trunk and can result in tree death, thus having a major impact on both wild and cultivated palm trees in several countries. The resulting economic and biodiversity losses caused by invasive populations of the RPW gave it a major pest status, and now governments, companies, and researchers across multiple countries are interested in developing effective control strategies to prevent further damage. Managing agricultural pests in the face of pressures such as climate change, rising levels of insecticide resistance, and increasing demands for food production will require advanced knowledge of pest biology. In this review, after presenting basic aspects of RPW biology and pest status, we gather information on the use of omics technologies, such as transcriptomics, genomics, and metagenomics, and explore their achievements and potentials to illuminate RPW biology and improve management. We finalize the review by exploring current opportunities and challenges in the use of these technologies for RPW management. ABSTRACT: The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), is the most devastating pest of palm trees worldwide. Mitigation of the economic and biodiversity impact it causes is an international priority that could be greatly aided by a better understanding of its biology and genetics. Despite its relevance, the biology of the RPW remains poorly understood, and research on management strategies often focuses on outdated empirical methods that produce sub-optimal results. With the development of omics approaches in genetic research, new avenues for pest control are becoming increasingly feasible. For example, genetic engineering approaches become available once a species’s target genes are well characterized in terms of their sequence, but also population variability, epistatic interactions, and more. In the last few years alone, there have been major advances in omics studies of the RPW. Multiple draft genomes are currently available, along with short and long-read transcriptomes, and metagenomes, which have facilitated the identification of genes of interest to the RPW scientific community. This review describes omics approaches previously applied to RPW research, highlights findings that could be impactful for pest management, and emphasizes future opportunities and challenges in this area of research.