Strong oviposition preference for Bt over non-Bt maize in Spodoptera frugiperda and its implications for the evolution of resistance

BMC Biology

Research Article

Ivis Morán-Bertot¹  Camilo Ayra-Pardo¹  Pilar Téllez-Rodríguez¹  Carlos G Borroto¹  Lianet Rodríguez-Cabrera¹  Ben Raymond²  Denis J Wright² 

[1] Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), 10600, Havana, Cuba;Division of Biology, Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park campus, Ascot, SL5 7PY, Berkshire, UK;

关键词: Bacillus thuringiensis;    GM crops;    High dose/refuge strategy;    Oviposition behavior;    Population dynamics;    Resistance management;    Transgenic crop;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1741-7007-12-48

 received in 2013-12-17, accepted in 2014-05-15,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundTransgenic crops expressing Bt toxins have substantial benefits for growers in terms of reduced synthetic insecticide inputs, area-wide pest management and yield. This valuable technology depends upon delaying the evolution of resistance. The ‘high dose/refuge strategy’, in which a refuge of non-Bt plants is planted in close proximity to the Bt crop, is the foundation of most existing resistance management. Most theoretical analyses of the high dose/refuge strategy assume random oviposition across refugia and Bt crops.ResultsIn this study we examined oviposition and survival of Spodoptera frugiperda across conventional and Bt maize and explored the impact of oviposition behavior on the evolution of resistance in simulation models. Over six growing seasons oviposition rates per plant were higher in Bt crops than in refugia. The Cry1F Bt maize variety retained largely undamaged leaves, and oviposition preference was correlated with the level of feeding damage in the refuge. In simulation models, damage-avoiding oviposition accelerated the evolution of resistance and either led to requirements for larger refugia or undermined resistance management altogether. Since larval densities affected oviposition preferences, pest population dynamics affected resistance evolution: larger refugia were weakly beneficial for resistance management if they increased pest population sizes and the concomitant degree of leaf damage.ConclusionsDamaged host plants have reduced attractiveness to many insect pests, and crops expressing Bt toxins are generally less damaged than conventional counterparts. Resistance management strategies should take account of this behavior, as it has the potential to undermine the effectiveness of existing practice, especially in the tropics where many pests are polyvoltinous. Efforts to bring down total pest population sizes and/or increase the attractiveness of damaged conventional plants will have substantial benefits for slowing the evolution of resistance.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Téllez-Rodríguez et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.