Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2840413 Journal of Insect Physiology 2015 9 Pages PDF
Abstract

•A novel P450 named CYP6AB14 was cloned and analyzed from Spodoptera litura.•Xanthotoxin, coumarin and flavone induced CYP6AB14 midgut and fat body transcripts.•Injection of CYP6AB14-derived dsRNA reduced CYP6AB14 transcript levels.•Allelochemicals plus RNAi of CYP6AB14 caused developmental abnormalities.•In S. litura CYP6AB14 likely plays a key role in plant allelochemical detoxification.

Cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (P450s) play a prominent role in the adaptation of insects to host plant chemical defenses. To investigate the potential role of P450s in adaptation of the lepidopteran pest Spodoptera litura to host plant allelochemicals, an expressed sequence data set derived from 6th instar midgut tissues was first mined. One sequence identified from the S. litura 6th instar midgut EST database was determined by phylogenetic analysis to belong to the CYP6AB P450 subfamily, and named CYP6AB14. Dietary supplementation of S. litura larvae with either xanthotoxin (XAN), coumarin (COU) and flavone (FLA) led to elevated CYP6AB14 transcript levels in both midgut and fat body tissues. Injection of CYP6AB14-derived double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into S. litura individuals significantly reduced CYP6AB14 transcript levels, and resulted in increased developmental abnormalities and higher mortality rates among XAN, COU and FLA-fed larvae. Our results strongly suggest a key role for CYP6AB14 in plant allelochemical detoxification in S. litura.

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Life Sciences Agricultural and Biological Sciences Insect Science
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