Inheritance and fitness costs of resistance to Cry3Bb1 corn by western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte)

The western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is an economically important pest of corn. Corn that produces one or more Cry toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is often used to manage western corn rootworm. This places selective pressure on populations to develop resistance to Bt.  Refuges of non-Bt corn are intended to delay the development of resistance and this delay is expected to be greater when the inheritance of resistance is recessive and there are fitness costs associated with resistance. Using strains of western corn rootworm with field-derived resistance to Cry3Bb1, our research will quantified the inheritance of resistance and determined whether fitness costs were associated with resistance.