Les mécanismes responsables de la résistance aux insecticides chez les insectes et les acariens

Abstract

Insect and mite resistance mechanisms to insecticides. Insecticide resistance is documented in nearly all insects and mitesin which it has been studied. It is a major obstacle to control agriculturally important pests. Next to the already ancientknowledge on resistance this review discusses recent major breakthroughs in understanding the mechanisms, at molecularlevel, by which insects acquire resistance to natural, synthetic or bioengineered insecticides. Resistance is due either to amodification of the target affinity for the pesticide or to an increase of detoxification through some enzymatic systems. Nowthe challenge is to isolate the DNA encoding for these various proteins in order to understand what happens at the geneticlevel when an insect acquires resistance to insecticides. In this paper we review several types of resistance mechanisms(behavioural, physiological and biochemical) and we indicate the application that can be expected from this knowledge,mainly for the managing of the resistance genes in natural populations and for ecotoxicological studies.

Keywords

• Insecticide resistance
• molecular biology
• genes
• insects
• mites