kdr-Type resistance in insects with special reference to the German cockroach, Blattella germanica

Abstract

The phenomenon of knockdown resistance (kdr) was first noted in the housefly (Musca domestica), and has subsequently be found (i.e. kdr-type resistance) in several other insect pests including the German cockroach (Blattella germanica). This type of resistance causes insensitivity of the nervous system to pyrethroids, DDT and a limited number of sodium channel neurotoxins. In the German cockroach, kdr-type resistance is incompletely recessive, monogenic and not sex linked or due to cytoplasmic factors. Additionally, kdr-type resistance is not associated with a change in sodium channel density. kdr or kdr-type loci are tightly linked or identical to the para-homologous sodium channel locus in German cockroach, housefly and tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens), suggesting that kdr and kdr-type resistance are due to mutations in the para-homologous sodium channel gene. kdr-Type resistance in the German cockroach appears similar, although not necessarily identical, to kdr in houseflies.