Detecting the genomic basis of Bt cry toxin resistance in Helicoverpa zea

Sunday, November 13, 2022

2:18 PM – 2:30 PM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 215/216

Presenting Author(s)

Katherine L. Taylor

Postdoc
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland

Co-Author(s)

Kelly A. Hamby

Associate Professor
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland
FG

Fred L. Gould

North Carolina State University
Raleigh, North Carolina
Megan L. Fritz

Assistant Professor
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland

Pest resistance evolution is an ongoing challenge in agricultural ecosystems. Helicoverpa zea, a significant pest of corn and cotton, has rapidly evolved damaging resistance to the Bt Cry expressing crops that once controlled them. We investigated the genomic basis of field evolved Cry1Ab, Cry1A.105, and Cry2Ab2 resistance in H. zea using a quantitative trait locus mapping approach. With replicated laboratory crosses between field-collected resistant and laboratory susceptible populations we identified the genomic architecture of resistance and functionally linked genomic regions to Cry resistance. Then by comparing the set of resistance associated genomic regions with allele frequency changes that occurred while resistance was evolving in this major agricultural pest, we identified candidate genes in resistance associated regions of the genome. Our results are a next step towards identifying the polygenic genomic basis of resistance to Cry toxins in H. zea.