Analysis of insecticide resistance and de novo transcriptome assembly of resistance associated genes in the European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

The European grapevine moth Lobesia botrana (Denis & Shiffermuller 1776) is an economically important pest of the vine-growing areas worldwide. Chemical insecticides have been used for its control; however, its resistance status is largely unknown in many regions. We monitored the susceptibility of several L. botrana populations from Greece and Turkey. In addition, based on RNAseq transcriptome analysis, we identified and phylogenetically classify the cytochrome P450 genes of L. botrana, as well as analysed target site sequences and looked for the presence of known resistance mutations. Resistance against chlorantraniliprole, alpha-cypermethrin, spinetoram, etofenprox, and acetamiprid was very low (below 2.5-fold in all cases, compared to a reference strain from Greece) in all populations from Greece that were included in the study. However, resistance against indoxacarb (4-30-fold), spinosad (5-59-fold), and deltamethrin (18-30 fold) was detected in the L. botrana populations from Turkey, compared to a reference population from Turkey. De novo transcriptome assembly and manual annotation, and subsequent PCR-based analysis of insecticide target sequences (i.e. voltage-gated sodium channel - VGSC: target of pyrethroids and oxadiazines; nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunit a6 - nAChR_alpha 6: target of spinosad; ryanodine receptor - RyR: target of diamides; glutamate-gated chloride channel - GluCl: target of avermectins and; acetylcholinesterase - AChE: target of organophosphates) showed the absence of known resistance mutations in all specimens from both countries. Finally, the L. botrana CYPome (116 genes) was manually analysed and phylogenetically characterised, to provide resources for future studies that will aim the analysis of metabolic resistance.