Tebufenozide resistance is associated with sex-linked inheritance in Plutella xylostella.

The diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L.), is a major pest of cruciferous crops. Tebufenozide, a novel nonsteroidal ecdysone agonist, exhibits good efficacy and has played an increasingly important role in the control of Lepidopteran pests in China. For its resistance management, the genetic basis of tebufenozide resistance was studied using a laboratory selected resistant strain of DBM (resistant ratio, RR = 268). A series of crosses with laboratory susceptible and resistant strains revealed that tebufenozide resistance in this pest was partially biased toward female heredity, with a large difference in RR for F1 (RR = 29) and rF1 progeny (RR = 147). The dominance calculated for these 2 cross progeny was -0.788 and 0.09, respectively. Further analysis showed that the susceptible male and female larvae were similar in their sensitivity to tebufenozide, but the resistant female larvae showed significantly higher resistance than the resistant male larvae. The heredity of tebufenozide resistance in DBM might be linked with the W sex chromosome, which suggested that DBM has the ability to develop high levels of resistance to tebufenozide. This is the first report of sex-linked inheritance of tebufenozide resistance in P. xylostella (L.).