I’m so sorry David was an amazing person

"hybridisation has combined H. armigera adaptation to soy with H. zea Cry1Ac resistance, with global consequences for food security. Thus, the collision of genomes can drive rapid anthropogenic adaptation via combinatorial evolution."

I should also acknowledge our great Brazilian colleagues Alberto Soares Correa and Celso Omoto who were integral throughout the project

And finally well done to @henrylnorth.bsky.social @gmkov.bsky.social Douglas Amado and many others for doing all the hard work

In short, a new pest now shares the tolerance of Bt toxins from H. zea with the ability to feed on soybean from H. armigera - a novel and potentially destructive combination of traits

The invasive soybean pest Helicoverpa armigera has acquired resistance to Bt toxins from native H. zea in Brazil. We showing this in a time series of genome data from nearly 1000 individuals over 10 years, plus a lab strain experiment that verified the function

I remember watching that female H. telesiphe fluttering around the purple Passiflora - it was an amazing sight for a budding Heliconius biologist in awe of all the new things I was learning. I didn’t know that you had propagated the plant…