Abstract:

Insecticide resistance is one of the major obstacles that impede control of agriculturally and medically important arthropod pests. It is also an important manmade example of natural selection and evolution. Knowledge on insect resistance enable us not only to develop effective strategies for detecting, monitoring and managing resistance，but also to understand the rules of evolution of organisms. The molecular basis of insect resistance to many chemical insecticides has been elucidated in the past ten years. Target genes, mostly in the nervous system, have been identified and cloned from the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster，and resistance-associated mutations have been examined in a range of pest insects. More recently, with the advent of annotated insect genomes, resistance mediated by complex multi-gene enzyme systems such as esterases, cytochrome P450s and glutathione S-transferases has also been elucidated. The spread and evolutionary patterns of resistance genes have been revealed gradually. Additional resistance mechanisms will be found as the power of genomic technologies, such as the comparative genomics, microarray and positional cloning, is applied to further examples of resistance.

Key words: Insect, insecticide, resistance, genetics, genomics