In recent years many of the conventional methods of insect control by broad spectrum synthetic chemicals have come under scrutiny because of their unde sirable effects on human health and the environment. In addition, some classes of pesticide chemistry, which generated resistance problems and severely affected the environment, are no longer used. It is against this background that the authors of this book present up-to-date findings-relating to biochemical sites that can serve as targets for developing insecticides with selective prop erties, and as the basis for the elucidation of resistance mechanisms and countermeasures. The book consists of eight chapters relating to biochemical targets for insec ticide action and seven chapters relating to biochemical modes of resistance and countermeasures. The authors of the chapters are world leaders in pesti cide chemistry, biochemical modes of action and mechanisms of resistance. Biochemical sites such as chitin formation, juvenile hormone and ecdysone receptors, acetylcholine and GABA receptors, ion channels, and neuropeptides are potential targets for insecticide action. The progress made in recent years in molecular biology (presented in depth in this volume) has led to the iden tification of genes that confer mechanisms of resistance, such as increased detoxification, decreased penetration and insensitive target sites. A combina tion of factors can lead to potentiation of the resistance level. Classifications of these mechanisms are termed gene amplification, changes in structural genes, and modification of gene expression.

Biochemical Processes Related to Insecticide Action

GABA and Glutamate Receptors as Biochemical Sites for Insecticide Action
Insecticides Affecting Voltage Gated Ion Channels
Acetylcholine Receptors as Sites for Developing Neo- nicotinoid Insecticides
Ecdysteroid and Juvenile Hormone Receptors
Imaginal Discs and Tissue Cultures as Targets for Insecticide Action
Insect Neuropeptide Antagonists
Ion Balance in the Lepidopteran Midgut and Insecticidal Action of B. thuringiensis
Evolution of Amplified Esterase Genes as a Mode of Insecticide Resistance in Aphids
Insensitive Acetylinesterase as Sites to Organophosphates and Carbamates in Insects
Glutathion S-Transferases and Insect Resistance to Insecticides
Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases and Insect Resistance
Mechanisms of Organophosphate in Insects
Insect Midgut as a Site for Insecticide Detoxification and Resistance
Impact of Insecticide Resistance Mechanisms on Management Strategies.-