Resistance Management to Insecticides and Bt Plants

A considerable body of literature has been published on resistance evolution to conventional insecticides and there are >500 cases of arthropod resistance to pesticides (http://www.pesticideresistance.com/).  The diamondback moth has been a “leader” in evolving resistance to most classes of insecticides and has been a useful insect for studying insecticide resistance management (IRM).  There is also a growing body of literature about the potential and actual evolution of resistance to Bt plants.  Bt plants should be considered another form of host plant resistance in the traditional sense and, therefore, there they are subject to the same dynamics of resistance evolution.  However, because the present Bt proteins are very selective and do not harm natural enemies, we are investigating the possibility that natural enemies may slow the evolution of resistance to Bt plants.

Listed below are a few of our publications in this area (see complete publication list above).

  1. Liu, X. X., M. Chen, H.L. Collins, D. W. Onstad, R. T. Roush, Q. Zhang, E. D. Earle and A.M. Shelton. 2014. Natural enemies delay insect resistance to Bt plants. PLoS One DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0090366.
  2. Onstad, D., X. Liu, M. Chen, R. Roush and A. M. Shelton.  2013.  Modeling the integration of parasitism, insecticide and transgenic insecticidal crops for the long-term control of an insect pest.  J. Econ. Entomol. 106: 1103-1111.  [PDF]
  3. Sumerford, D. V., G. P. Head, A. M. Shelton, J. Greenplate and W. Moar.  2013.  Field-evolved resistance: assessing the problem and ways to move forward.  J. Econ. Entomol (Forum): 106: 1525-1534. [PDF]
  4. Liu, X., M. Chen, H. Collins, D. Onstad, R. Roush, Q. Zhang and A. M. Shelton.  2012. Effect of insecticides and Plutella xylostella genotype on a predator and parasitoid and implications for the evolution of insecticide resistance.  J. Econ. Entomol. 105: 354-362.
  5. Bates, S. L., J-Z. Zhao, R. T. Roush, and A. M. Shelton.  2005.  Insect resistance management in GM crops: past present and future.  Nature Biotech 23: 57-62 (PDF reprint here)
  6. Baxter, S., J. Davey, S. Johnston, A. M. Shelton, D. Heckel, C. Jiggins, and M. Blaxter. 2011. Association mapping, comparative genomics and constructing linkage groups using next-generation RAD sequencing of a non-model organism.  PLoS One (PDF reprint here)
  7. Zhao, J. Z., H. L. Collins and A. M. Shelton.  2010.  Testing insecticide resistance management strategies: mosaics vs rotations.  Pest Management Sci. 66: 1101-1105. (PDF reprint here)

For an overview of Bt plants, see: Romeis, J., A. M. Shelton and G. G. Kennedy. 2008.  Integration of insect-resistant genetically modified crops within IPM programs.  Springer.  Dordrecht, The Netherlands. 441 pp.

Biology, ecology and management of insect pests affectiing vegetables and other crops