Undergrad Publishes Mormon Cricket Genome

A Brigham Young University junior molecular biology major has sequenced the mitochondrial genome of the "Mormon cricket," the insect said to have scourged Utah's early settlers' crops until the miraculous intervention of California gulls.Mormon crickets still affect Utah today - a spray program is in place to treat nearly 100,000 acres in Box Elder County inundated with the pests. Daniel Fenn, a Salt Lake City native, is the lead author on "The complete mitochondrial genome sequence of the Mormon cricket (Anabrus simplex: Tettigoniidae: Orthoptera)," published in the academic journal Insect Molecular Biology.