Cis - and trans -acting variants contribute to survivorship in a naïve Drosophila melanogaster population exposed to ryanoid insecticides

Significance Around the world insecticides are being deregistered and banned, as their environmental costs are deemed too great or their efficacy against pest insects is reduced through the evolution of insecticide resistance. With the introduction of replacement insecticides comes the responsibility to assess the way new insecticides perturb various levels of biological systems, from insect physiology to ecosystems. We used a systems genetics approach to identify genetic variants affecting survivorship of Drosophila melanogaster exposed to chlorantraniliprole. The study population was completely naïve to this insecticide chemistry and yet we find associations with variants in neuromuscular genes and coregulated detoxification genes. We predict that these variants will increase in populations of this “sentinel species” as these insecticides are applied in the environment.