title: Transposition-mediated transcriptional overexpression as a mechanism of insecticide resistance.
abstract: It has been proposed that amplification of genes for esterase that provide resistance to insecticides may originate from transposition events. To test this hypothesis, we have constructed a minigene coding for a soluble acetylcholinesterase under the control of a nontissue-specific promoter (hsp70). When introduced into Drosophila, the gene is expressed in all tissues and the extra acetylcholinesterase produced confers a low level of insecticide resistance (twofold). The minigene was mobilized by crossing the initial transformant with a strain providing a source of P-element transposase. After 34 generations of exposure to the organophosphate parathion, we obtained a strain with a higher resistance (fivefold). This strain had only one extra Ace gene, which overexpressed acetylcholinesterase. Thus, following transposition, resistance resulted from the overexpression of a single copy of the gene and not from gene amplification.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire d'entomologie, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berrada
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fournier
mesh_terms: D000110:Acetylcholinesterase / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D007305:Insecticide Resistance / Q000235:genetics*; D007306:Insecticides; D010278:Parathion; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D019895:Transposases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D007306:Insecticides; D010278:Parathion; D019895:Transposases; D000110:Acetylcholinesterase