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Title: GREENBUG BIOTYPES: VICTIMS OF SELECTION OR LITTLE GREEN BANDITS?

Author
item Porter, David
item Burd, John
item Shufran, Kevin
item Webster, James
item TEETES, GEORGE - TEXAS A&M UNIV

Submitted to: Hard Red Winter Wheat Workers Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/1998
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Future advances in wheat, Triticum aestivum (L.), resistance to greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), will likely come from introduction of resistance transgenes into high-performance cultivars. First-generation resistance transgenes will be single genes that impart antibiosis traits (similar to Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxins in transgenic corn, Zea mays L.). This approach to pest management is incompatible with interpretations of simulation models that predict that deployment of antibiosis resistance controlled by single genes drives the development of new, virulent pest biotypes. This dichotomy must be addressed if full advantage is to be taken of the new, powerful tools of molecular biology for plant protection against insects. In this paper, the specific insect-plant interactions of greenbugs on wheat were examined to understand the relationship between the deployment of plant resistance and the development of new greenbug biotypes. From this analysis, there was no relationship between the use of resistant wheat and the development of new greenbug biotypes. Similar analysis of sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, revealed that with only three of the 11 biotypes could there be any correlation between the use of resistant hybrids and the development of new biotypes. Even with these three biotypes, no clear cause-and-effect relationship was established. Based on analysis of these specific insect-plant interactions, we propose that future plant resistance efforts focus on the use of the most effective resistance genes, despite past predictions of what effect these genes may have on aphid population genetics.