Clonal turnover of MACE-carrying peach-potato aphids (Myzus persicae (Sulzer), Homoptera: Aphididae) colonizing Scotland

Peach-potato aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), collected in Scotland in the years 1995 and 2002-2004 were characterized using four microsatellite loci and three insecticide resistance mechanisms. From 868 samples, 14 multilocus genotypes were defined (designated clones A-N). Five of these (denoted A, B, H, M and N) carried modified acetylcholinesterase (MACE) resistance, the most recent resistance mechanism to have evolved in M. persicae. The current paper shows that the continued presence of MACE aphids is due to turnover, as clones A and B were replaced in field samples by clones H, M and N in later seasons. Thus, insecticide-resistant populations in Scotland can be attributed to multiple waves of rapid clone colonisations and not to the continued presence of stable resistant clones or mutation or sexual recombination in local populations. The MACE clones carried varying levels of the other insecticide resistance mechanisms, kdr and esterase. The presence of these mechanisms could alter the clones success in the field depending on insecticide spraying (positive selection) and resistance fitness costs (negative selection).