19: Resistance to Bt corn in fall armyworm: Local or migratory?

Monday, November 16, 2020

4:40 PM - 4:55 PM EST

Presenting Author(s)

Juan Luis Jurat-Fuentes

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee

Co-Author(s)

RB

Rahul Banerjee

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
KS

Katrina Schlum

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
KL

Kurt Lamour

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
SE

Scott Emrich

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
CP

Caroline Placidi de Bortoli

University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee

The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda) is the insect with the most widely distributed cases of practical resistance to transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crops). All these resistance cases involve transgenic corn producing the Cry1F insecticidal protein and present multiple similarities, including autosomal recessive inheritance of resistance, lack of significant fitness costs, and resistance linked to mutations in an ABC transporter gene (SfABCC2). Considering the migratory pattern of S. frugiperda in the Western hemisphere and the potential gene flow between geographically distant populations, these similarities could suggest dispersion of resistance alleles by migration rather selection of local resistance alleles. Results from DNA-based genotyping and whole genome sequencing allows testing the hypothetical role of migration in resistance dispersion.