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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #84158
Title: SYNTHESES AND INHERITANCE OF CHROMOSOME REARRANGEMENTS IN THE HESSIAN FLY (DIPTERA: CECIDOMYIIDAE)

Author
item STUART, JEFFREY - PURDUE UNIVERSITY
item WELLSO, STANLEY - ARS (RETIRED)
item Ratcliffe, Roger

Submitted to: Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/1997
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Hessian fly is a major insect pest of wheat. Control depends upon the development and deployment of wheat varieties that are resistant to this pest. Unfortunately, over time, Hessian fly populations can evolve into new races, or "biotypes", to which resistance genes are no longer effective. Understanding of the genetics of the fly must be improved in order to predict and control the evolution of these biotypes and improve the durability of resistance genes as an effective method of Hessian fly control. This research determined that chromosomes can be altered, or arranged, in laboratory populations of the Hessian fly by exposure of larvae to gamma radiation. Subsequent changes in fertility of adults developing from treated larvae can be used as a tool for studying fly genetics. DNA markers associated with specific genes were relatively easily recognized and followed by using the incomplete fertility procedure generally associated with induced chromosome rearrangements. The research also indicated that the method of chromosome rearrangement can be used to position the genes responsible for biotype evolution on Hessian fly chromosomes. The use of DNA markers associated with virulence genes will benefit Hessian fly research by significantly reducing the time required to identify specific Hessian fly biotypes in field populations, and to select for new resistance genes in wheat for their control.

Technical Abstract: Pupae of male Hessian flies, Mayetiola destructor (Say), were exposed to 4 different doses of gamma radiation (0.0, 15, 30, 40, and 60 Gy) and mated to untreated females. The fertility of these females and their F1, F2, and F3 offspring were evaluated. Incomplete fertility (semisterility) in several lines segregated as a dominant genetic marker, indicating that semisterility could be used as a dominant phenotypic marker to follow the inheritance of chromosome rearrangements in these lines. To further test this possibility, polytene chromosomes of 26 progenies produced by semisterile females derived from 40 Gy-exposed males were examined for the presence of chromosome rearrangements. Three independent rearrangements were identified among the larvae in these progenies and these are described. Radiation-induced semisterility, therefore, can be used as a dominant genetic marker for chromosome rearrangements in the Hessian fly.