Genetic markers for western XXXX rootworm resistance to Bt toxin.

@entity177 @entity11137 @entity4336 @entity2829
Western @entity4336 rootworm (WCR) is a major @entity2829 ( @entity2829 .) pest leading to annual economic losses of more than 1 billion dollars in the United States. Transgenic @entity2829 expressing insecticidal toxins derived from the bacterium @entity11137 (Bt) are widely used for the management of WCR. However, cultivation of Bt-expressing @entity2829 places intense selection pressure on pest populations to evolve resistance. Instances of resistance to Bt toxins have been reported in WCR. Developing genetic markers for resistance will help in characterizing the extent of existing issues, predicting where @entity177 may occur, improving insect resistance management strategies, and in designing and sustainably implementing forthcoming WCR control products. Here, we discover and validate genetic markers in WCR that are associated with resistance to the Cry3Bb1 Bt toxin. A field-derived WCR population known to be resistant to the Cry3Bb1 Bt toxin was used to generate a genetic map and to identify a genomic region associated with Cry3Bb1 resistance. Our results indicate that resistance is inherited in a nearly recessive manner and associated with a single autosomal linkage group. Markers tightly linked with resistance were validated using WCR populations collected from Cry3Bb1 @entity2829 fields showing significant WCR damage from across the US @entity4336 Belt. Two markers were found to be correlated with both diet (R2 = 0.14) and plant (R2 = 0.23) bioassays for resistance. These results will assist in assessing resistance risk for different WCR populations, and can be used to improve insect resistance management strategies.
