Cross-Resistance, Inheritance, and Biochemistry of Mitochondrial Electron Transport Inhibitor-Acaricide Resistance in Tetranychus urticae (Acari: Tetranychidae)

Resistance of the twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, to acaricides acting as mitochondrial electron transport inhibitors (METIs) is an increasing problem. Because of their high levels of cross-resistance to all commercially available METI-acaricides, a Japanese strain (AKITA) and an English strain (UK-99) of T. urticae were investigated in detail. Larvae of both strains, AKITA and UK-99, showed 1,100- and 480-fold resistance against pyridaben, 870- and 45-fold resistance against fenpyroximate, and 33- and 44-fold resistance against tebufenpyrad, respectively, in a foliar spray application bioassay compared with the susceptible strain GSS. These resistance factors remained stable even when maintained in the laboratory without further selection. Furthermore, strain AKITA showed cross-resistance to dicofol. The METI resistant strains AKITA and UK-99 showed 2.4- and 1.7-fold enhanced O-ethoxycoumarin O-deethylation (cytochrome P450) activity. Increased oxidative metabolism of the METI-acaricides in the resistant strains could be partially suppressed in vivo by the monooxygenase-inhibitor piperonyl butoxide. Reciprocal crosses of homozygous, diploid females and hemizygous, haploid males of strains GSS (susceptible) and AKITA (resistant) revealed that resistance to pyridaben and fenpyroximate was inherited incompletely dominant with slight differences between maternal and paternal inheritance. This is the first attempt to mechanistically describe METI-acaricide resistance in T. urticae. The implications for resistance management strategies are discussed.