The onion thrips, Thrips tabaci (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), is a worldwide pest that causes serious damage to Allium crop species and acts as a vector for iris yellow spot virus (IYSV). In a previous study, we established an emamectin benzoate (EB) resistant strain (EB-R) with a 490-fold higher resistance ratio than the susceptible strain (SUS). The EB-R exhibited significantly increased transcript levels of glycine receptor alpha, glutamate-gated chloride channel (GluCl) b, and cytochrome P450 (CYP450) 6EB2 compared to SUS. To identify EB resistance-related genes that are differentially expressed genes between SUS and EB-R, we established an isogenic backcrossing strain and conducted transcriptome analysis after the 4th cycle of isogenic backcrossing. Among the 85 up-regulated genes in the transcriptome data, six cuticular protein genes showed up-regulation. Additionally, CYP450 4g15, which catalyzes the synthesis of cuticular hydrocarbons, exhibited a 6 log2-fold higher expression level in EB-R compared to SUS. Therefore, the elevated expression of genes associated with cuticle protein modification may be significantly is involved in the development of EB resistance.

The two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae), is one of the most important pest species, because it devastates many horticultural and ornamental crops and fruit trees. The resistance ratios calculated for the LC50 value in acequinocyl- and pyridaben-resistant strain was 4,237- and 5,555-fold higher than that of the susceptible strain, respectively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cross-resistance to several acaricides and to identify the mechanisms associated with acequinocyl- and pyridaben-resistant strain of T. urticae.

The respiration rate of PH3 susceptible strain was significantly higher than the resistant strain. The results showed no significant effect of oxygen level on the respiration rate of both strains. Phosphine reduced the respiration rate of both strains when it was applied in average concentrations. However, the rate of respiration of the resistant beetles increased significantly under a high level of phosphine. The increase of respiration rate was associated with the higher emission of VOCs which prove the acceleration of metabolic processes to face the phosphine action for survival. Flat grain beetle Cryptolestes pusillus and rusty grain beetle C. ferrugineus are similar insect species, but only C. ferrugineus is capable to develop a high phosphine resistance. A direct immersion solid phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (DI-SPME-GCMS) technology has identified the different fatty acids from PH3 resistant and susceptible strain of Tribolium castaneum.

We developed single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and are establishing diagnostic systems to distinguish disease resistance- and susceptible-strains of honey bees using the SNPs. For development of SNP markers, whole genome was sequenced each from 20 individuals of “disease resistance-strain” and “susceptible-strain” of Apis mellifera ligustica using the Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencer. Approximately, 344 and 294 million sequence reads were mapped to the honeybee reference assembly (Amel_4.5) for each strain, respectively. Among the total 2,246,428 SNPs yielded, 33 were found to be fixed between the two strains with all homozygosity. Sixteen of them were casually amplified and sequenced from randomly selected each 10 individual of honey bees from each strain and presented strain specific SNPs. These ten SNPs were used to diagnose the two strains either by original size difference, caused by indel-accompanying SNP, typical PCR-RFLP, or AS PCR.

Ryanodine receptors (RyRs) regulate the contractions of insect muscles by altering intracellular Ca2+ concentration and are the targets of chlorantraniliprole. Here we established two resistant strains of Drosophila melanogaster, which were treated with low or high concentrations of chlorantraniliprole, and their resistance levels were determined on the basis of contact and ingestion toxicities. Compared with the wild type, the two resistant strains did not show any significant differences in contact toxicity. However, they showed significantly increased resistance ratios in ingestion toxicity than that by the wild type. The resistant strains had altered expression levels of RyRs and more enhanced Acetylcholinesterase and Glutathione-S-transferase activities than that by the non-selected strain. These results suggested that the resistance development of chlorantraniliprole in the two strains might be mediated by the activation of detoxification pathways in D. melanogaster.