Transcription and induction profiles of two esterase genes in susceptible and acaricide-resistant Tetranychus cinnabarinus

The carmine spider mite Tetranychus cinnabarinus is the most serious of crop mite pests in China. Their ability to rapidly develop resistance to acaricides has caused difficulty in controlling this mite. In this study, the molecular mechanism of acaricide resistance associated with esterase genes TCE1 and TCE2 was investigated in susceptible and acaricide-resistant strains of T. cinnabarinus. The quantitative real-time PCR (qrtPCR) method was adopted to compare the expression level of two esterase genes TCE1 and TCE2 among four different strains (abamectin-resistant, AbR; fenpropathrin-resistant, FeR; omethoate-resistant, OmR and susceptible strains, S) of T. cinnabarinus. The relative expression level of TCE2 was 1.39–2.47 fold in the three resistant strains compared with the S strain. And after inducing with abamectin, fenpropathrin, and omethoate the highest expression level of TCE2 in the S was 1.64-, 2.92- and 2.24-fold compared with the control, respectively, and this difference was found to be significant. However, there was no obvious difference of the mRNA relative expression levels of TCE1 genes among the four strains, and those of TCE1 were not higher than the control throughout the study. Furthermore, the expression modes of TCE1 and TCE2 in AbR and FeR were similar with that in the S after being treated with abamectin and fenpropathrin, respectively. These results indicated that the enhanced expression of esterase gene TCE2 was associated with acaricide-resistance in T.cinnabarinus.

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► We analyzed the expression of two esterase genes TCE1 and TCE2 in T. cinnabarinus.
► The mRNA level of TCE2 gene is higher in SS than in acaricide-resistant strains.
► The expression of TCE2 gene increased when suffered acaricides treatment.
► The TCE2 gene conferred metabolizing resistance to acaricides while TCE1 did not.