RESISTANCE TO insecticides by certain aphid strains could become a major problem for the industry, according to Rothamsted Research, an institute of the BBSRC.

The peach potato aphid (myzus persicae) is the most important aphid pest of crops in many regions of the world due to its large host range and the damage it causes through direct feeding and its ability to transmit more than 100 plant viruses. This species has developed resistance to most insecticides – though neonicotinoids have remained an effective and popular control measure.

However, recent cases of neonicotinoid resistance in PPA represent a threat to the long-term effectiveness of these insecticides as well.

Rothamsted says that work on other insect species has shown that resistance can arise through increased production of metabolic enzymes called cytochrome P450s that detoxify the insecticide.

A new study of neonicotinoid resistance in these aphids, published in PLOS genetics by scientists at Rothamsted Research, an institute of BBSRC, and collaborators at University College London, is the first to find resistance associated with an increase in the number of copies of a P450 gene in a major agricultural pest.