Artificial selection of insects to bioconvert pre-consumer organic wastes. A review

As the human population continues to grow, so too do the concerns regarding the sustainability of waste management from our food production systems. Faced with limited environmental resources for food production, issues related to food loss and waste are critical in mitigating challenges stemming from projected population growth and long-term food security and sustainability. The potential for using insects to consume organic waste materials and convert them into feed for animal, biofuels, and other valuable secondary products is gaining momentum as both a research discipline and as a business opportunity. Here, this ecosystem service is referred to as “insects as bioconverters of organic waste.” Scientific reviews of this topic have mainly focused on the challenges associated with development of commercial scale systems. To compliment existing reviews, we address this exciting topic from an artificial selection perspective, as we review and discuss aspects associated with targeted breeding and adaptation of both gut microbial communities and host insects themselves. We describe the “ideal insect bioconverter,” insects uniquely equipped to convert wastes into biomass and other valuable secondary products, and we present the current knowledge and existing research gaps towards the development of such organisms. We conclude that (1) targeted breeding of insects and their gut microbes can produce tailored insect lineages for bioconversion of specific waste streams; (2) research is needed to take full advantage of the existing insect diversity to identify new candidate species for bioconversion; and (3) further research into insect-gut microbial complexes will likely provide important insight into ways insects can be used as sustainable bioconverters of highly specialized waste streams.