Enzyme levels used to monitor pesticide resistance in Varroa jacobsoni
Author(s)
Uri Gerson; Rita Mozes-Koch; Ephraim Cohen
Abstract
The contingency of pesticide resistance in the mite Varroa jacobsoni Oudemans prompted this preliminary study, in which methodology for assaying levels of two detoxification systems, namely esterases and glutathione Stransferase (GST), was developed. The total esterolytic activity detected in post- mitochondrial fractions of a homogenized 200-mg sample of V. jacobsoni from 10 colonies was 0.0068 (00) min-1~g-1 protein. GST activity, expressed in ~mol conjugate min-1~g-1 protein was 0.260±0.21 in the post-mitochondrial supernatant and 0.646±0.48 in the cytosol. These results pertain only to mites obtained from a single experimental apiary of A. mellifera Iigustica in Israel. The methodology and preliminary results obtained may be used for subsequent local or regional monitoring of enzyme levels associated with pesticide resistance in V. jacobsoni.
