Neonicotinoid insecticide resistance among populations of Bemisia tabaci in the Mediterranean region of Turkey

The study was conducted to evaluate whether Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (MEAM1, formerly B biotype) populations in Turkey have developed resistance to neonicotinoid insecticides. We collected B. tabaci from vegetable and cotton growing areas in the Mediterranean coastal region of Turkey. B. tabaci populations were collected from the following crops (and areas): Solanum lycopersicum L. (Aydıncık and Erdemli-Mersin), Gossypium hirsutum L. (Karataş-Adana), Capsicum annuum L. (Kumluca-Antalya), and Cucumis sativus L. (Samandağ-Hatay). We performed insecticide bioassays and biochemical assays to determine levels of susceptibility to acetamiprid, imidacloprid, thiacloprid, and thiamethoxam. The bioassays showed that most of the B. tabaci populations were resistant to all the neonicotinoids tested when compared with the laboratory insecticide-susceptible strain, SUD-S. The highest resistance factor was 2060 for imidacloprid at Kumluca and the lowest was 5.36 for thiamethoxam at Samandağ. Furthermore, the highest and lowest monooxygenase enzyme activity level of B. tabaci was in the Kumluca and Samandağ populations, respectively. The CYP6CM1 protein lateral flow assay results supported those of the biochemical assays. Our results support those reported elsewhere that enhanced monooxygenase activity, at least in part, is responsible for neonicotinoid resistance in B. tabaci populations. © 2018, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences. All rights reserved.D3BAP2012GS and MRU conceived and designed research. GS conducted experiments. RN contributed new reagents. GS, KD and RN analyzed data. GS wrote the manuscript. GS thanks the Cukurova University BAP Department for their support of the doctorate project (D3BAP2012). The authors thanks Martin Williamson (Rothamsted Research, UK) for supplying SUD-S susceptible whiteflies strain. We also thank Recep Ay (Suleyman Demirel University, Plant Protection Department, Isparta, Turkey), Graham Moores, Selcan Alptekin (Rothamsted Research, UK), Sedef Nehir El and Şebnem Şimşek (Ege University, Food Engineering Department, İzmir, Turkey) and Osman Gülnaz (Cuku-rova University, Department of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Turkey). The authors also thank Gregory T. Sullivan (School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brisbane, Australia) for editing the English in an earlier version of this manuscript