Abstract
Evolved resistance to xenobiotics and parasites is often associated with fitness costs when the selection pressure is absent. Resistance to the widely used microbial insecticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has evolved in several insect species through the modification of insect midgut binding sites for Bt toxins, and reports of costs associated with Bt resistance are common. Studies on the costs of Bt-resistance restrict the insect to a single artificial diet or host-plant. However, it is well documented that insects can self-select appropriate proportions of multiple nutritionally unbalanced foods to optimize life-history traits. Therefore, we examined whether Bt-resistant and susceptible cabbage loopers Trichoplusia ni differed in their nutrient intake and fitness costs when they were allowed to compose their own protein:carbohydrate diet. We found that Bt-resistant T. ni composed a higher ratio of protein to carbohydrate than susceptible T. ni. Bt-resistant males exhibited no fitness cost, while the fitness cost (reduced pupal weight) was present in resistant females. The absence of the fitness cost in resistant males was associated with increased carbohydrate consumption compared to females. We demonstrate a sex difference in a fitness cost and a new behavioural outcome associated with Bt resistance.
Highlights
The evolution of resistance to pathogens, parasites and chemical insecticides is often accompanied by negative pleiotropic effects in the absence of the selection pressure [1,2,3]
This has been shown to be the case, with the costs of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) resistance being exacerbated on lower quality or better-defended diets or host plants [14,15,16]
We hypothesized that midgut-based resistance to Bt was likely to alter nutrient intake and that resistant insects may be able to compensate for fitness costs when given a choice of diets
Summary
The evolution of resistance to pathogens, parasites and chemical insecticides is often accompanied by negative pleiotropic effects in the absence of the selection pressure [1,2,3]. We hypothesized that midgut-based resistance to Bt was likely to alter nutrient intake and that resistant insects may be able to compensate for fitness costs when given a choice of diets. We used the Geometric Framework for nutrition to test our hypotheses by comparing Bt-resistant and Bt-susceptible lines of cabbage loopers, Trichoplusia ni (Hubner). In this approach it is possible to quantify how an organism regulates the intake of two or more food components at the same time using a graphical model [20,21]. Bt-resistant T. ni have well-documented, contextdependent costs, including reduced survival and pupal weight, and increased development time [8,15]
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