Margaret (Meg) L. Allen Email: - Research Entomologist,US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Margaret (Meg) Allen is a research entomologist for the United States Department of Agriculture. Within the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), Dr. Allen conducts basic and applied research on genetic and functional genomic methods for suppressing populations of pest species. Studies include characterizing genes involved in nutrition, development and fitness of beneficials, (predatory and parasitic insects), and the use of insect transformation and RNA interference to develop novel pest control strategies, such as lethal genes, diapause deficient strains, delivery of weed control products, and genetically sterile insects. Dr. Allen conducts pioneering research on insect transformation for insect mass rearing and pest control. Curriculum Vitae
Name: Dr. Margaret (Meg) L. Allen Country of birth: United States Nationality: Position Title: Research Entomologist Institution: US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Contact Address: Biological Control of Pests Research Unit (BCPRU) 59 Lee Road, Building 8 (SRQF) Stoneville, MS 38776 USA Email: - Tel: - Specialty Area:
Education:
1982 B.S. (Magna cum Laude), Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA
1997 M.Sc., Biology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA
2001 Ph.D., Entomology, University of California, Riverside, California, USA
Positions held (since terminal degree):
2004 to date Research Entomologist, Biological Control of Pests Research Unit, USDA, Stoneville, Mississippi, USA
2002-2004 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Screwworm Molecular Genetics USDA-ARS Midwest Livestock Insects Research Lab, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.
Expertise:
Honors and Awards (since terminal degree):
2004 Student/Postdoctoral Scholarship, Keystone Symposia - Genetic Manipulation of Insects, Taos, New Mexico, USA. . 2006 Drosophila Image Award finalist. . 2009 Certificate of Appreciation from Entomological Society of America for exceptional service as the IPMIS Section representative on the 2009 Annual Meeting Program Committee. . 2009 Outstanding Service Award from the Entomological Society of America for exceptional service as IPMIS Section President 2009. .
A selection of major research accomplishments: Discoveries and first reports
1) The first scientist to propose a filariasis-resistant transgenic mosquito in the genus Culex, and to demonstrate feasibility with a tissue-specific gene construct, act88Fgfp. actin 88F is an adult flight muscle gene from D. melanogaster. A novel transgenic strain was produced, the expression of the construct was restricted to the flight muscles of the mosquito, and the transgene insert was shown to be sex-linked. This was the first mosquito transformation shown to be sex-linked, and because no sex-specific genes have been identified from the Culex genus, the strain is a resource for discovery of sex related genes and loci. 2) The first scientist to transform Cochliomyia hominivorax, the New World screwworm. 3) The first scientist to demonstrate equivalent quality of transgenic insect strains as compared with standard laboratory selected strains of insects. Insect transformation and transgenic insect strains integrated into Sterile Insect Release programs have been criticized as creating inherent insect fitness costs, or having inherently decreased strain quality. The results challenge that assumption and demonstrate the contrary. 4) The first scientist to deposit a library of functional gene information from the cotton pest Lygus lineolaris to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank 5) Identified and characterized in the first genes encoding polygalacturonase enzymes in L. lineolaris and collaborated in the identification of additional genes in the closely related pest species L. hesperus. 6) Supervised and guided research resulting in the first demonstration of gene knockdown by RNA interference (RNAi) in L. lineolaris.
A Selection of refereed journal publications (2002-present)
Allen M.L., Handler A. Berkebile D. and Skoda S. 2004. piggybac transformation of the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, produces multiple distinct mutant strains. Med. Vet. Entomol. 18:1-9.
Allen M.L., Berkebile D. and Skoda S. 2004. Post-larval fitness characteristics of transgenic New World screwworm. J. Econ. Entomol. 97 (3):1181-1185.
Allen M.L. and Christensen B. M. 2004. Flight muscle-specific expression of act88F:GFP in transgenic Culex quinquefasciatus Say (Diptera: Culicidae). Parasitol. Int. 53 (4):307-314.
Allen M.L. and Scholl P. J. 2005. Quality of transgenic laboratory strains of Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) (Diptera: Calliphoridae). J. Econ. Entomol. 96 (6):2301-2306.
Allen M.L. 2007. Expressed sequenced tags from Lygus lineolaris (Hemiptera: Miridae), the tarnished plant bug. Gen. Mol. Res. 6 (1):206-213.
Allen M.L. and Mertens J. A. 2008.Molecular cloning and expression of three polygalacturonase cDNAs from the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris. J. Insect Sci. 27:1-14.
Celorio-Mancera M. P., Allen M.L., Powell A. L., Ahmadi H., Salemi M. R., Phinney B. S., Shackel K. A., Greve L. C., Teuber L. R., and Labavitch J. M. 2008.Polygalacturonase causes lygus-like damage on plants: cloning and identification of western tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus) polygalacturonases secreted during feeding. Arthropod-Plant Inte. 2:215-225.
Handler A. M., Allen M.L. and Skoda S. R. 2009.Development and utilization of transgenic New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax. Med. Vet. Entomol. 23 (Suppl. 1): 98-105.
Allen M.L. and Walker W. B. III 2010. Expressed sequence reference standards for evaluating stage-specific gene expression in the southern green lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris. Biocontrol Sci. Techn. 20 (6):589-593.
WalkerW.B. III and Allen M.L. 2010. Expression and RNA interference of salivary polygalacturonase genes in the tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris. J. Insect Sci. 173:1-13.
Walker W. B. III and Allen M. L. (in press). RNA interference mediated knockdown of IAP in Lygus lineolaris induces mortality in adult and pre-adult life stages. Entomol. Exp. Appl.
Book chapters: Allen M. L. 2011. Lygus bugs, pp. 115-118. In Chen, W., Sharma, H.C. and Muehlbauer, F.J. (eds.) Compendium of Chickpea and Lentil Diseases and Pests, APS Press, St Paul, Minnesota. 165 pp.
Invited presentations at major international conferences (2002-present-Maximum 8)
Research Grants (2004 – present):
This database is supported with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation |
