Faculty Sponsor: Valerie Nazzaro
Live Poster Session: https://wesleyan.zoom.us/j/95772835348
Dane Adams
2nd Year at Wesleyan University. Works in Coolon and Taylor Lab
Abstract:With continual insect resistance to man-made insecticides at a high rate, insects have developed resistance against toxins that plants use to deter pests. As a result, several methods have evolved within insects to resist these toxins, including cuticle protection and possible metabolism adaptations. Still, many studies have focused on genes correlated with the detoxification of these insecticides. Modern studies have often used D. melanogaster as a model system to understand better genetic and phenotypic interactions with combinations of commercial insecticides like DDT, nicotine, and dibrom. While there is a large amount of studies on D. melanogaster exposure to insecticides, there has been little work done on other Drosophila species (D. sechellia, D. simulans, and D. mauritiana) exposure to insecticides. Here, we have the opportunity to demonstrate how D. melanogaster, D. sechellia, D. simulans, and D. mauritiana interact with insecticides individually, particularly in terms of cross-resistance, as multiple organisms have developed resistance to other naturally occurring toxins. We will also be able to demonstrate exactly how each commercial insecticide targets specific neural regions in different species of Drosophila and how some species can develop resistance to different insecticides. Our results should clarify and identify, when later on paired with genetic exposure response data from RNA-seq, which genes in each species are specifically responsible for resistance to pesticides. We have seen that certain insecticides work very effectively together within particular species of flies. It’s important to look at species like Drosophila sechellia due to a history of resistance to toxic chemicals (e.g., octanoic acid, hexanoic acid, methyl octanoate, ethyl octanoate, methyl hexanoate, ethyl hexanoate), prompting the question of cross-resistance to insecticides, while also comparing D. simulans and D. mauritiana with D. melanogaster, as they share a lot of genetic similarities.
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