The sweet potato/cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is one of the most destructive vegetable pests in greenhouses worlwide and also in Türkiye. Our recent paper “Biochemical and molecular analyses of insecticide resistance in greenhouse populations of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in Türkiye” accepted for publication in the journal Phytoparasitica highlights the resistance developed by this pest against neonicotinoids, organophosphates and pyrethroids. This is a comprehensive study including the resistance status of 13 Turkish B. tabaci greenhouse populations from the Marmara, Central Anatolia, Black Sea, and Aegean regions. Almost all populations showed higher non-specific esterase, glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and monooxygenase activity when compared to susceptible SUD-S population. AChE insensitivity assays for individual B. tabaci suggest a target-site modification as a mechanism of resistance to chlorpyrifos-ethyl. This is the first report of AChE variants identified based on their sensitivities to chlorpyrifos ethyl-oxon and pirimicarb in Turkish B. tabaci populations. Fixed ace mutations in the target-site of pyrethroids and organophosphates were identified in six populations. Resistance to organophosphates and neonicotinoids were at least partially related to both ace mutations and insensitive AChE and monooxygenase activities, respectively. The results will hopefully help development of effective resistance management programs of B. tabaci in Türkiye.
