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New field of insect science: Research on the use of insect properties
Author(s) -
Takeda Satoshi
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
entomological science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.536
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1479-8298
pISSN - 1343-8786
DOI - 10.1111/ens.12022
Subject(s) - insect , biology , field (mathematics) , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , mathematics , pure mathematics
In recent years, research on “insect properties” has been attracting much attention for industrial applications of insect technology. This is a new field of research that attempts to analyze specific physiological properties of insects to develop technology for helping humankind. The term “insect properties” has been used to refer to “specific biological functions of insects” since around 1986, and it is now widely accepted in J apan. From 1996, the N ational I nstitute of S ericultural and E ntomological S cience ( NISES ) promoted “Research for utilization of insect properties” as a “ C enter of E xcellence ( COE )” project funded by the S cience and T echnology A gency. At this point, a new research field called “ R esearch for utilization of insect properties” was initiated, and this led to the recognition of this field by the academic community. In the 21st century, remarkable results, including the development of transgenic silkworms and the full decoding of the silkworm genome, have been achieved. It is expected that this advanced technology will be a powerful tool for progress of research on the use of insect properties. This review presents an overview of the current state of research on use of insect properties as a new technology.