Gene transfer from plant to insect

A pernicious agricultural pest owes some of its success to a gene pilfered from its plant host millions of years ago. The finding is the first known example of a natural gene transfer from a plant to an insect. It also explains one reason why the whitefly Bemisia tabaci is so adept at munching on crops: the gene that it swiped from plants enables it to neutralise a toxin that some plants produce to defend against insects. Early work suggests that inhibiting this gene can render the whiteflies vulnerable to the toxin, providing a potential route to combating the pest.