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Section Symposium

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

Coping Under Stress: Adaptive Strategies to Toxins by Arthropods

Insecticide resistance as a case study of stress-induced evolutionary processes

Tuesday, November 11, 2025
8:05 AM - 8:17 AM Pacific
Location: Oregon Convention Center, F151, OCC
Oral Presentation
Agricultural insect pests have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to adapt rapidly to a wide range of insecticides, making them ideal for the study of stress-induced evolutionary processes. New research suggests that stress itself may induce a set of physiological changes that can lead to heritable epigenetic and genetic changes. In this talk, we discuss how insecticidal stress leads to epigenetic and genetic changes that are associated with rapid adaptation in a model pest, the Colorado potato beetle. We summarize several of our recent experiments to demonstrate how epigenetic modifications like DNA methylation and histone modifications are responsive to insecticidal stress. We also provide an overview on how epigenetic modifications can give rise to new mutations. Since insect pests have been largely overlooked for studying rapid evolution, we discuss how studying insect pests offers new opportunities and resources for advancing our knowledge of stress-induced evolutionary processes