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TENTATIVE RESEARCH PLAN FOR M.Sc. PROGRAMME
Sajjad Ali, Ph.D. Student (Agricultural Entomology)
EVALUATION OF BACTERIAL SECONDARY ENDOSYMBIONTS FOR
INSECTICIDE RESISTANCE IN WHEAT APHIDS
Introduction
Practice of insecticide application is very common in modern agriculture for the management of
insect pests. Meanwhile increasing insecticide resistance is a concern of farmers and researchers
these days whose mechanism is based on evolutionary changes in pest genomes (Su et al.
2013). Studies on detoxification and excretion of chemicals and drugs from insects are thus
becoming more important. Insecticide degradation by bacterial symbionts (Burkholderia strains),
however, is studied only very recently (Kikuchi et al. 2012). Bacterial secondary endosymbionts in
aphids are a very useful tool for this purpose because their resistance against parasitoid,
pathogen, predator and environmental factors had been already studied (Oliver et al. 2003, 2005,
Moran et al. 2005, Ferrari et al. 2004, Haine et al. 2005 and Scarborough et al.2005).
Bacterial secondary endosymbionts are present in the wheat aphid Sitobion avenae as well. Their
response towards insecticide applications may be very important for studying the symbiontsmediated insecticide resistance in aphids as these secondary endosymbionts are vertically
transmitted.
Experimental Outline
1. Developing wheat aphid lines with and without secondary endosymbiotic bacteria
2. Exposing aphids to different insecticides at various doses in different treatments
3. Data collection regarding mortality, relative growth rate, fecundity and resistance in next
generations.