Probing the interaction between insecticide resistance genes

July 28th, 2010

It is generally held that two insecticide resistance genes interact to give a level or resistance greater than the sum of the two mechanisms (synergistic interaction). Melissa Hardstone and Jeff Scott (Pestic. Biochem. Physiol. 2010, 97:123-128) recently completed an extensive literature search of the interactions between insecticide resistance mechanisms and found that this was not always the case. Based on this literature review, the most common interaction of multiple resistance loci is synergistic when the loci are homozygous, and additive when loci are heterozygous. When one locus is homozygous and the other locus is heterozygous the most common interaction was synergistic, although very few studies have examined this type of interaction. Possible factors that drive these interactions, exceptions to the trends, and future research needs were discussed.