Deleting a 'resistance gene' barely dented spider mite pesticide defenses
Naessens S, De Rouck S, Vandenhole M, Hosseinkhani M, Tsakireli D
Crispr
The two-spotted spider mite is one of the most destructive pests on tomatoes, roses, beans, and hundreds of other garden and greenhouse plants, so understanding why it keeps outsmarting pesticides helps explain why your miticide spray sometimes just stops working.
Spider mites are tiny pests that chew up a huge range of garden plants and have a knack for becoming immune to whatever pesticide you throw at them. Researchers used gene-editing tools to switch off two genes long blamed for that resistance, expecting the mites to become easy to kill again. Instead the mites mostly shrugged it off, rerouting their internal chemistry to cover for the missing genes, which shows pest resistance is a team effort rather than the work of one culprit gene.
Key Findings
CRISPR/Cas9 knockouts of CYP392A16 and CYP392D2 in a multi-resistant spider mite strain produced only limited increases in acaricide susceptibility, and only for a subset of compounds tested
Disrupting CYP392D2 caused a moderate, host-plant-dependent fitness cost during experimental evolution, while CYP392A16 disruption did not
Loss of CYP392D2 triggered extensive transcriptional rewiring suggestive of compensatory detoxification pathways, unlike CYP392A16 loss
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists deleted two genes thought to be key drivers of pesticide resistance in spider mites, expecting the mites to become vulnerable again. Instead the mites barely changed, revealing that resistance networks are far more redundant and adaptable than lab tests alone can show.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Gene knockout of P450s CYP392A16 and CYP392D2 reveals unexpected in vivo effects and transcriptional rewiring in the extreme generalist Tetranychus urticae.
The two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae rapidly evolves resistance to acaricides, frequently through the upregulation of detoxification enzymes such as cytochrome P450 monooxygenases. Among...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
Was this useful?
Want to tell us more? (optional)
Thanks for the note!
Something went wrong — please try again.
Too many submissions. Try again in an hour.
Gene editing removes 97% of celiac-triggering proteins from bread wheat
It could mean that people with celiac disease — roughly 1 in 100 worldwide — may one day safely eat bread made from real wheat, without sacrificing the taste...
An invasive species is an introduced organism that harms its new environment by outcompeting native flora and disrupting ecosystem balance. For plant scientists, invasive plant species represent a critical research frontier because they fundamentally alter biodiversity, compromise agricultural
arrow_forward Explore topic