PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Lawrence, M.J. AU - Grayson, P. AU - Jeffrey, J.D. AU - Docker, M.F. AU - Garroway, C.J. AU - Wilson, J.M. AU - Manzon, R.G. AU - Wilkie, M.P. AU - Jeffries, K.M. TI - Variation in the transcriptome response and detoxification gene diversity drives pesticide tolerance in fishes AID - 10.1101/2021.12.16.473024 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 2021.12.16.473024 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/17/2021.12.16.473024.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2021/12/17/2021.12.16.473024.full AB - Pesticides are critical for invasive species management, but often have negative effects on non-target native biota. Tolerance to pesticides should have an evolutionary basis, but this is poorly understood. Invasive sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) populations in North America have been controlled with a pesticide lethal to them at lower concentrations than native fishes. We addressed how interspecific variation in gene expression and detoxification gene diversity confer differential pesticide sensitivity in two fish species. We exposed sea lamprey and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), a tolerant native species, to TFM, a pesticide commonly used in sea lamprey control, and used whole-transcriptome sequencing of gill and liver to characterize the cellular response. Comparatively, bluegill exhibited a larger number of detoxification genes expressed and a larger number of responsive transcripts overall, which likely contributes to greater tolerance to TFM. Understanding the genetic and physiological basis for pesticide tolerance is crucial for managing invasive species.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.