Comparative survival of insecticide-susceptible and resistant peach-potato aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), in low temperature field trials

Abstract

The survival of Myzus persicae (Sulzer) clones, representing the full range of the recognized levels of insecticide resistance, was measured after 3-4 week exposure to the winter climate in the field. Ten separate trials were carried out using known numbers of first/second instar nymphs on unsprayed oilseed rape and groundsel. These predominantly showed a negative association between resistance level and the proportion of aphids recovered alive after exposure. The strength of the relationship correlated closely with three meteorological variables: the length of time that aphids spent below 2°C, mean rainfall and mean windspeed. We conclude that selection for resistance to insecticides is subject to counteracting selection by cold, wet and windy conditions in the UK winter. Revertant clones, that had spontaneously lost extreme resistance to insecticides despite retaining resistance genes, survived no better than aphids that had kept their high resistance, indicating that overproduction of esterase was not the reason for poor survival.

Analogous pleiotropic effects of insecticide resistance genotypes in peach–potato aphids and houseflies

“…However, work on the behavioural correlates of resistance genotypes in both aphids and houseflies suggests that kdr mutations are also associated with detrimental behaviour. Our study confirms earlier reports of biological and behavioural effects associated with high levels of carboxylesterase resistance in M. persicae (Foster et al, 1996(Foster et al, , 1997, but the use of clones differing in both esterase titre and kdr genotype enabled a clearer resolution for the role of each mechanism in influencing responsiveness to environmental cues (either leaf deterioration or the presence of alarm pheromone). Increased esterase production was significantly associated with reduced movement from deteriorating leaves.…”

“…The work reported here expands upon previous research on clones of M. persicae that showed behavioural effects to be correlated with elevated titres of carboxylesterases and with the presence or absence of kdr (Foster et al, 1996(Foster et al, , 1997. It also reports on behavioural characteristics associated with kdr in the housefly (M. domestica).…”

“…By concentrating purely on such obviously detrimental parameters and by failing to consider suboptimal conditions (stressful environments in which fitness differentials are at a premium), subtle pleiotropic effects on biology or behaviour are often overlooked (McKenzie, 1996). Examples of behavioural effects that have been shown to be correlated with resistance are therefore rare but include mating disruption and oviposition preference in dieldrin-resistant Anopheline mosquitoes (Rowland, 1991a,b), mating success in Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-resistant diamondback moths (Groeters et al, 1993), response to alarm pheromone in aphids , and overwintering success in Bt-resistant pink bollworms (Carriere et al, 2001), insecticide-resistant aphids (Foster et al, 1996(Foster et al, , 1997 and blowflies (McKenzie, 1993). There is little understanding of the genotypic basis of these resistance-associated traits, but some may be examples of true pleiotropies, whereby one gene influences more than one aspect of an organism's phenotype.…”

Structure and organization of amplicons containing the E4 esterase genes responsible for insecticide resistance in the aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer)

“…Insecticide-sensitive M. persicae are still common throughout the world, suggesting that selection for resistance by insecticide treatment is somehow counteracted by selection against the resistant phenotype. This has been demonstrated for U.K. populations, where resistant aphids showed poorer survival in the winter climate [29].…”

Cloning and characterization of 60S ribosomal protein L22 (RPL22) from Culex pipiens pallens

“…And protein overproduction of these detoxifying enzymes would be deleterious to the organisms. For example, resistance allele E4 appears to impose strong deleterious effects such as reduced overwinter survival (Foster et al, 1996) and disruption of the life cycle (Blackman et al, 1996). Up-regulated RPL22 in resistant Cx.…”