Clark_1999_Pest.Sci_55_606

The Colorado potato beetle (CPB) (Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say)) is a world-wide pest of potatoes and is resistant to all major classes of insecticides. Detailed biochemical and pharmacological studies have established a variety of resistance mechanisms; including altered acetylcholinesterases (organophosphates and carbamates), insensitive ion channels (DDT and pyrethroids), sequestration proteins associated with the hemolymph (multiple insecticides) and induced oxidative metabolism (abamectin). We have devised a number of molecular-based diagnostic procedures to detect mutations and over-expressed proteins that result in resistance, including single-stranded conformational polymorphism (SSCP), PCR amplification of specifc alleles (PASA) and mini-sequencing of DNA coupled with immunochemical detection