subscribe to the RSS Feed  Thursday, October 23, 2014  Bugs and
Bacteria Working Together  Posted by jlwile on October 16, 2012
A beanbug, Riptortus pedestris (click for credit)  Mutualistic
symbiosis, the process by which organisms of different species
interact so that all of them benefit, is a very common
phenomenon in creation (see here, here, here, here, and here for
a few examples). A recent study in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, USA highlights a very interesting
case of mutualistic symbiosis that not only has some important
implications for farmers, but also relates to the
creation/evolution controversy.  The study examined insecticide
resistance in bean bugs (Riptortus pedestris) and similar
insects. The authors considered one of the most popular
insecticides used by farmers across the world, fenitrothion. It
has been known for some time that certain insects, such as the
bean bugs in the study, can develop resistance to that
insecticide. This is a problem, since bean bugs not on