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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Angharad MR GatehouseORCiD, Dr Martin EdwardsORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Development of resistance in target pests is a major threat to long-term use of transgenic crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) Cry toxins. To manage and/or delay the evolution of resistance in target insects through the implementation of effective strategies, it is essential to understand the basis of resistance. One of the most important mechanisms of insect resistance to Bt crops is the alteration of the interactions between Cry toxins and their receptors in the midgut. A Cry1Ac-selected strain of Asian corn borer (ACB), Ostrinia furnacalis, a key pest of maize in China, evolved three mutant alleles of a cadherin-like protein (OfCAD) (MPR-r1, MPR-r2 and MPR-r3), which mapped within the toxin-binding region (TBR). Each of the three mutant alleles possessed two or three amino acid substitutions in this region, especially Thr(1457)-> Ser. In highly resistant larvae (ACB-Ac200), MPR-r2 had a 26-amino acid residue deletion in the TBR, which resulted in reduced binding of Cry1Ac compared to the MPR from the susceptible strain, suggesting that the number of amino acid deletions influences the level of resistance. Furthermore, downregulation of OfCAD gene (ofcad) transcription was observed in the Cry1Ac resistant strain, ACB-Ac24, suggesting that Cry1Ac resistance in ACB is associated with the downregulation of the transcript levels of the cadherin-like protein gene. The OfCAD identified from ACB exhibited a high degree of similarity to other members of the cadherin super-family in lepidopteran species.
Author(s): Jin TT, Chang X, Gatehouse AMR, Wang ZY, Edwards MG, He KL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Toxins
Year: 2014
Volume: 6
Issue: 9
Pages: 2676-2693
Online publication date: 11/09/2014
Acceptance date: 15/08/2014
Date deposited: 01/12/2014
ISSN (electronic): 2072-6651
Publisher: MDPI AG
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins6092676
DOI: 10.3390/toxins6092676
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