Elucidating the Biochemical Bases for Host Plant Selection and Manipulating Resistance to Tephritids

Abstract

Resistance of many host plants to tephritid fruit flies is a well-documented fact. Often, susceptibility increases with senescence of the fruit. Different cultivars of related fruit species also show different levels of innate resistance to a given species of fruit fly (e.g., resistance of lemons >> oranges > grapefruit). Behavioral differences among fruit fly species (e.g., deposition of clutches of eggs vs. individual eggs) may account for observed differences in the destructive potential of individual pest species against a given type of fruit. Symbionts, especially bacterial agents, have been implicated in facilitating attack by fruit flies, and must be considered when examining host plant fruit fly interactions.