Critical Analysis of Multi-Omic Data from a Strain of Resistant to Cry1Ac Toxin.

Rapid evolution of resistance in crop pests to (Bt) products threatens their widespread use, especially as pests appear to develop resistance through a range of different physiological adaptations. With such a diverse range of mechanisms reported, researchers have resorted to multi-omic approaches to understand the molecular basis of resistance. Such approaches generate a lot of data making it difficult to establish where causal links between physiological changes and resistance exist. In this study, a combination of RNA-Seq and iTRAQ was used with a strain of diamondback moth, (L.), whose resistance mechanism is well understood. While some of the causal molecular changes in the resistant strain were detected, other previously verified changes were not detected. We suggest that while multi-omic studies have use in validating a proposed resistance mechanism, they are of limited value in identifying such a mechanism in the first place.