Abstract
Bacillus thuringiensis is a widely used biopesticide, but its success may be curtailed by evolution of resistance in pests. As a prelude to detailed genetic studies of resistance, we sought genetic markers in diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (L.), the first species in which resistance to B. thuringiensis has occurred in open field populations. DNA from susceptible and resistant strains was compared using optimized randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPID) methods. Of 117 primers tested, 75 produced 1 or more bands that were found in 1 strain but not the other. Of the 223 such bands, 105 were found only in the susceptible strain and 118 only in the resistant strain. These results show that the RAPD technique generates a sufficient number of DNA markers to allow a linkage analysis of the genes responsible for the differences in resistance among the 2 strains: assuming a random distribution of markers throughout the genome, screening of the 223 candidate RAPDs identified in this study is likely to produce several markers linked to 1 or more loci that influence susceptibility to B. thuringiensis in diamondback moth.
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