The fenpropathrin resistant Tetranychus cinnabarinus showed increased fecundity with high content of vitellogenin and vitellogenin receptor

•Three reproduction-related genes were identified from Tetranychus cinnabarinus.•Fenpropathrin-resistant strain possessed stronger fecundity than the susceptible ones.•Three reproduction-related genes were over-expressed in the fenpropathrin-resistant strain.

Carmine spider mite, Tetranychus cinnabarinus (Boisduval), an agricultural pest of economically important crops, has developed resistance to a group of pesticides. We have selected a fenpropathrin-resistant strain (FeR) of T. cinnabarinus from the isogenous and susceptible strain (SS), and found that the FeR not only showed resistance but its fecundity also increased. According to the numbers of eggs laid per day of both strains, the FeR was more fertile than SS throughout the life span. To investigate the underlying reason, the protein contents of vitellogenin (vg) and vitellogenin receptor (vgr) were detected, and the results showed both of them were significantly higher in FeR than in SS. Then, the mRNA-expressions of vg and vgr genes were compared between FeR and SS. From the transcriptome data of T. cinnabarinus, we classified two vg genes (designated as Tcvg1 and Tcvg2, respectively) and a vgr gene (designated as Tcvgr). The expressions of Tcvg1, Tcvg2 and Tcvgr were highly associated with the fecundity of the mites that their mRNAs were extremely abundant at the adult stage, but hardly detectable during the developmental period (from egg to deutonymph). In accordance with the protein content, the expression levels of the three genes were all significantly higher in FeR than they were in SS. These results suggested that after resistance selection with fenpropathrin in T. cinnabarinus, the fecundity and the expression of reproduction-related genes (vg and vgr) were significantly higher in fenpropathrin resistant strain than that in susceptible strain.

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