Insight into the evolutionary profile of radio-resistance among insects having intrinsically evolved defence against radiation toxicity

Abstract

Ionizing radiation (IR) has wide-ranging applications in various fields. In agriculture, pest control is one of the important applications, because insect pests have become a threat to the global agriculture industry. IR are used routinely to prevent crop loss and to protect stored food commodities. Radio-sterilization and disinfestation treatments are commonly used procedures for insect pest control. From various studies on insect radio-sterilization and disinfestation, it has been established that compared to vertebrates’ insects have high levels of radiation resistance. Therefore, to achieve adequate radio-sterilization/disinfestation; exposure to high doses of IR is necessary. However, studies over decades made a presumption that radiation resistance is general among insects. Recent studies have shown that some insect orders are having high IR resistance and some insect orders are sensitive to IR. These studies have clarified that radiation resistance is not uniform throughout insect class. The present review is an attempt to insight at the evolutionary profile of insect species studied for radio-sterilization and disinfestation treatment and are having the trait of radio-resistance. From various studies on insect radiation resistance and after phylogenetic analysis of insect species it appears that the evolutionary near species have drastically different levels of radio-resistance and trait of radiation resistance appears to be independent of insect evolution.

Keywords:

• Evolution
• radio-resistance
• radio-sterilization
• disinfestation
• pre- and post-harvest

Acknowledgement

JGP sincerely thanks the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India, for the research associate fellowship (Award no. 09/1257(0001)/2019-EMR-I).

Author contributions

JGP Conceptualized the work, wrote the original draft, prepared figures and tables. TSG carried out phylogenetic analysis RKP reviewed the manuscript. All authors read the manuscript and approved for submission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jagdish Gopal Paithankar

Jagdish Gopal Paithankar is presently working as a Research Associate in Nitte University Centre for Science Education and Research, Nitte (Deemed to be University), Mangalore. He is awarded RA fellowship by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, (CSIR), New Delhi, India.

Tanhaji Sandu Ghodke

Tanhaji Sandu Ghodke is working as a Senior Research Fellow at Centre for Applications of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology, Mangalore University, Mangalore.

Rajashekhar K. Patil

Rajashekhar K. Patil is a former Professor and the Chairman of Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore.