Extraordinary Resistance to Insecticides Reveals Exotic Q Biotype of Bemisia tabaci in the New World

Abstract

A strain of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) possessing unusually high levels of resistance to a wide range of insecticides was discovered in 2004 in the course of routine resistance monitoring in Arizona. The multiply resistant insects, collected from poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch) plants purchased at a retail store in Tucson, were subjected to biotype analysis in three laboratories. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of naphthyl esterases and sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene (780 bp) confirmed the first detection of the Q biotype of B. tabaci in the New World. This U.S. Q biotype strain, referred to as Poinsettia'04, was highly resistant to two selective insect growth regulators, pyriproxyfen and buprofezin, and to mixtures of fenpropathrin and acephate. It was also unusually low in susceptibility to the neonicotinoid insecticides imidacloprid, acetamiprid, and thiamethoxam, relative to B biotype whiteflies. In 100 collections of whiteflies made in Arizona cotton (Gossypium spp.), vegetable, and melon (Cucumis melo L.) fields from 2001 to 2005, no Q biotypes were detected. Regions of the United States that were severely impacted by the introduction of the B biotype of B. tabaci in the 1980s would be well advised to promote measures that limit movement of the Q biotype from controlled environments into field systems and to formulate alternatives for managing this multiply-resistant biotype, in the event that it becomes more widely distributed.

Chemical composition, fumigant and anti-acetylcholinesterase activity of the Tunisian Citrus aurantium L. essential oils

“…Chemical insecticides are currently used for controlling B. tabaci, resulting in environmental pollution and resistance in pest population. Indeed, B. tabaci has been recognized as resistant to various systematic insecticides like organophosphates, carbamates, cyclodienes, synthetic pyrethroids and neonicotinoids (Dennehy et al, 2010;Vassiliou et al, 2011;Yuan et al, 2012).…”

Scientific Opinion on the risks to plant health posed by Bemisia tabaci species complex and viruses it transmits for the EU territory

“…Other criniviruses, such as BnYDV, with a host range restricted to few Leguminosae can disappear following an initial outbreak that has, however, caused serious damage and economic losses (Segundo et al, 2004;Janssen et al, 2011). The current global status of B. tabaci as a pest refers mainly to MEAM1 and Med, both of which are highly invasive, worldwide distributed, highly polyphagous (over 1 000 host plants reported; see a comprehensive list in Appendix B), resistant to a large number of insecticides (Dennehy et al, 2010;Li et al, 2011b), and particularly damaging by transmitting viruses causing serious crop diseases (De Barro et al, 2011;Navas-Castillo et al, 2011). Notwithstanding the major significance of MEAM1 and Med, other B. tabaci species can also be important agricultural pests by efficiently transmitting virus diseases in major world food and fibre crops, such as cassava in Africa and India (Legg et al, 2002;Legg and Fauquet, 2004) and cotton in India and Pakistan (Sanz et al, 2000).…”

“…These fungi present no risk to human health and have few side-effects on other natural enemies (Goettel et al, 2001) 2001). Buprofezin resistance has been reported in both the Q biotype Dennehy et al, 2010) and the B biotype (Cahill et al, 1996).…”

Bemisia tabaciBiotype Q Determined for the First Time on Poinsettia Crops in Finland and Sweden

“…Of these, biotype B (currently B. tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1, or MEAM1) spread globally in 1986-1992 (Bedford et al 1994), whereas biotype Q (B. tabaci Mediter-ranean, or Med) started spreading within Europe in the 1990s (Perring 2001, Rauch & Nauen 2003, reached other continents in the 2000s (e.g. Chu et al 2006, Ueda & Brown 2006, Hsieh et al 2007, McKenzie et al 2009, Dennehy et al 2010, Grille et al 2011, possibly due to increasing resistance to neonicotinoids and other insecticides (Fernández et al 2009, Dennehy et al 2010, Luo et al 2010, Wang et al 2010, Sun et al 2013. Following its introduction to new areas, B. tabaci Med is replacing the previously common B. tabaci MEAM1 (e.g.…”