Evolutionary trade-offs of insecticide resistance – the fitness costs associated with target-site mutations in the nAChR of Drosophila melanogaster

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Homem, R. A., Buttery, B., Richardson, E., Tan, Y., Field, L. M., Williamson, M. S. and Davies, T. G. E. 2020. Evolutionary trade-offs of insecticide resistance – the fitness costs associated with target-site mutations in the nAChR of Drosophila melanogaster. Molecular Ecology. 29, pp. 2661-2675. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15503

AuthorsHomem, R. A., Buttery, B., Richardson, E., Tan, Y., Field, L. M., Williamson, M. S. and Davies, T. G. E.
Abstract

The evolution of resistance to drugs and pesticides poses a major threat to human health and food security. Neonicotinoids are highly effective insecticides used to control agricultural pests. They target the insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and mutations of the receptor that confer resistance have been slow to develop, with only one field-evolved mutation being reported to date. This is an arginine to threonine substitution at position 81 of the nAChR_β1 subunit in neonicotinoid resistant aphids. To validate the role of R81T in neonicotinoid resistance and to test whether it may confer any significant fitness costs to insects, CRISPR/Cas9 was used to introduce an analogous mutation in the genome of Drosophila melanogaster. Flies carrying R81T showed an increased tolerance (resistance) to
neonicotinoid insecticides, accompanied by a significant reduction in fitness. In comparison,flies carrying a deletion of the whole nAChR_α6 subunit, the target-site of spinosyns, showed an increased tolerance to this class of insecticides but presented almost no fitness deficits.

KeywordsNicotinic acetylcholine receptor ; nAChR β1; nAChR α6; CRISPR; Neonicotinoids; Spinosad; Insecticide resistance; R81T
Year of Publication2020
JournalMolecular Ecology
Journal citation29, pp. 2661-2675
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15503
Web address (URL)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.15503
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBBSRC Industrial Strategy Challenge
Funder project or codeBBSRC Strategic Programme in Smart Crop Protection
201708150008
Publisher's version
Supplemental file
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
OnlineJun 2020
Publication process dates
Accepted19 May 2020
PublisherWiley
ISSN0962-1083

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/97v1z/evolutionary-trade-offs-of-insecticide-resistance-the-fitness-costs-associated-with-target-site-mutations-in-the-nachr-of-drosophila-melanogaster

211 total views
274 total downloads
1 views this month
12 downloads this month
Download files as zip