Scientists Make First Complete Genome of Desert Locust

A farmer holds up handful of locusts that descended on a field in Byblos, north of Beirut, November 2, 2004. REUTERS/Sharif Karim
A farmer holds up handful of locusts that descended on a field in Byblos, north of Beirut, November 2, 2004. REUTERS/Sharif Karim
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Scientists Make First Complete Genome of Desert Locust

A farmer holds up handful of locusts that descended on a field in Byblos, north of Beirut, November 2, 2004. REUTERS/Sharif Karim
A farmer holds up handful of locusts that descended on a field in Byblos, north of Beirut, November 2, 2004. REUTERS/Sharif Karim

The first high-quality genome of the desert locust -- the most destructive migratory insect in the world -- has been produced by US Department of Agriculture Research Service scientists.

Genome is a set of genetic information stored in the DNA or RNA. Producing a genome requires samples with specific characteristics.

That locust was provided by chemical ecologist Baldwyn Torto with the International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya. He and his team tracked down swarms of locusts, collecting specimens across Kenya until he had two parents that he was able to breed to produce an offspring of known pedigree.

The scientists were able to go from sample collection to a final assembled genome in under 5 months. The desert locust is one of the largest insect genomes ever completed and it was all done from a single locust.

The genome of the desert locust is nearly three times the size of the human genome, explains entomologist Scott Geib with the ARS Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research Unit in Hawaii, and one of the team leaders. “We were concerned that, faced with this huge and very likely complex desert locust genome, it was going to be an extremely long and difficult job. However, we were able to go from sample collection to a final assembled genome in under 5 months,” he notes.

ARS has made the genome available to the international research community through the National Center for Biotechnology Information, to help fight this dangerous pest.

Desert locust plagues are cyclic and have been recorded since the times of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, as far back as 3200 B.C. They caused devastation in East Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia in the 2020-2022 season, threatening food security in many countries.

A small swarm can eat as much food in a day as would feed 35,000 people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Current desert locust control mostly depends on locating swarms and spraying them with broad-spectrum pesticides. Ultimately, this genomics work could decrease dependence on such pesticides, using other measures that could be figured out after the determination of the genome, explains Scott Geib.



Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

 Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
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Marseille Airport Suspends Flights Due to Wildfire as Public Warned to Stay at Home

 Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)
Smoke rises over Marseille as a fast-moving wildfire spreads on the outskirts the city, southern France, July 8, 2025. (Reuters)

A wildfire spurred by hot summer winds reached France's second-largest city Tuesday, grounding all flights to and from Marseille, injuring at least nine people and forcing many residents to evacuate or barricade themselves indoors as smoke choked the Mediterranean air.

A big city hospital switched to generator power, train traffic was halted in most of the surrounding area, and some roads were closed and others tangled with logjams.

More than 1,000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which broke out near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau before racing toward Marseille. Some 720 hectares (acres) were hit by the blaze, the prefecture said.

Nine firefighters were injured, according to the prefecture, or local administration. No dead have been reported.

The prefecture said in a statement Tuesday evening that “the situation is under control,″ though the fire has not yet been extinguished. It described the fire as “particularly virulent.″

It came on a cloudless, windy day after a lengthy heat wave around Europe left the area parched and at heightened risk for wildfires. Several have broken out in southern France in recent days.

Light gray smoke gave the sky over Marseille’s old port a dusty aspect as water-dropping planes tried to extinguish the fire in the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.

Hundreds of homes were evacuated. The prefecture urged people in the affected areas to stay indoors and off the roads. With the fire approaching Marseille, the prefecture also advised residents in the north of the city to keep windows closed to prevent toxic smoke from entering their homes.

One distressed family watched the smoke over their neighborhood in the hills above the port city and showed AP how the roof of their neighbor's house had been damaged in the fire as they worried about their own.

Marseille airport announced that the runway had been closed at around midday. The prefecture said train traffic was halted, notably after a fire neared the tracks in L'Estaque, a picturesque neighborhood of Marseille.

As a safety measure, the city's Hospital Nord switched to generators “due to micro power cuts.”

“The aim is to secure the imaging sector. We are not worried as we have a high level of autonomy,” the University Hospitals of Marseille said, adding that because of the disrupted traffic it asked workers to remain at their posts until the next teams starts its shift.