Flupyradifurone is a promising new insecticide used for controlling Bemisia tabaci during vegetable production.  In this study, we assessed the fitness costs and mode of inheritance associated with resistance to flupyradifurone in B. tabaci by comparing the susceptible strain (MED-S) to one field-evolved flupyradifurone-resistant strain (WH-R, with 199-fold resistance) and one laboratory-selected flupyradifurone-resistant strain (FLU-SEL, with 124-fold resistance).  Progenies of reciprocal crosses between WH-R and MED-S (F_1A, F_1B, and pooled F₁), and between FLU-SEL and MED-S (F_1C, F_1D, and pooled F₁’), showed varying degrees of dominance, indicating that resistance to flupyradifurone in WH-R was autosomal and incompletely dominant, yet in FLU-SEL it was autosomal and incompletely recessive.  Furthermore, the development of resistance to flupyradifurone occurred at the expense of fitness costs for the resistant populations.  Compared to the MED-S strain, WH-R showed a relative fitness of 0.50 with significantly prolonged developmental durations and reduced survival rates of the nymphal and pseudopupal stages, as well as decreased fecundity and hatchability.  Similarly, FLU-SEL showed a relative fitness of 0.65 and also demonstrated prolonged developmental durations and reduced survival rates of nymphs and pseudopupae, as well as decreased hatchability in comparison with the MED-S strain.  However, no significant differences in fecundity were observed between MED-S and FLU-SEL.  The present study provides useful knowledge for formulating pest management strategies in the field, which will allow growers to slow the development of resistance to flupyradifurone and to sustainably control B. tabaci.

Close planting of dwarf varieties is currently the main cultivation direction for pear trees, and the screening of excellent dwarf varieties is an important goal for breeders.  In this study, the dwarfing pear variety ‘601D’ and its vigorous mutant ‘601T’ were used to show their biological characteristics and further explore the dwarfing mechanism in ‘601D’.  The biological characteristics showed that ‘601D’ had a shorter internode length, a shorter and more compact tree body, thicker and broader leaves, lower stomata density, larger stomata size (dimension), and higher photosynthetic capacity.  The biological characteristics of ‘601T’ showed notable contrasts.  The results of endogenous hormone tests indicated that the contents of abscisic acid (ABA), ABA-glucosyl ester, and GA4 were higher in ‘601D’, but the trans-zeatin content was lower.  By transcriptomic analysis, significant differences were found in the biosynthetic and metabolic pathways of ABA.  Related transcription factors such as bHLH, WRKY, and homeobox also participated in the regulation of plant dwarfing.  We therefore examined three hormones with obvious differences with ‘601T’, and found that only ABA could induce ‘601T’ to return to a dwarfing plant phenotype.  Therefore, we conclude that the dwarfing of ‘601D’ is caused by an excessive accumulation of ABA.  This study provides a new theoretical basis for breeding dwarf varieties.

The Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) cryptic species complex comprises important insect pests that cause devastating damage to agricultural crops worldwide.  In China, the B. tabaci Mediterranean (MED) (or biotype Q) species is threatening agricultural production all over the country as resistance to commonly used insecticides has increased.  This situation highlights the need for alternative pest control measures.  Cyantraniliprole, a novel anthranilic diamide insecticide, has been widely employed to control Hemipteran pests.  To monitor the levels of resistance to cyantraniliprole in B. tabaci field populations in China, bioassays were conducted for 18 field samples from nine provinces over two years.  Compared with median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) for the MED susceptible strain, all field samples had significantly higher resistance to cyantraniliprole.  Furthermore, resistance factors (RFs) increased significantly in samples from Shanxi (from 5.62 in 2015 to 25.81 in 2016), Hunan (3.30 in 2015 to 20.97 in 2016) and Hubei (from 9.81 in 2015 to 23.91 in 2016) provinces.  This study indicates a considerable decrease in the efficacy of cyantraniliprole against B. tabaci and establishes a baseline of susceptibility that could serve as a reference for future monitoring and management of B. tabaci resistance to cyantraniliprole.