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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Physiol.
Sec. Invertebrate Physiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphys.2024.1503953

Knockdown of CYP6SZ3 and CYP6AEL1 Genes Increases the Susceptibility of Lasioderma serricorne to Ethyl Formate and Benzothiazole

Provisionally accepted
Xiaokun Li Xiaokun Li Lixin Ma Lixin Ma Wen-Jia Yang Wen-Jia Yang Kang-Kang Xu Kang-Kang Xu *
  • Guiyang University, Guiyang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Insect cytochrome P450 monooxygenases (CYPs) play crucial roles in the metabolic detoxification of insecticides. Ethyl formate and benzothiazole have recently regained popularity as fumigants due to rising resistance to phosphine in the stored-product pests. However, the mechanisms underlying tolerance to these two fumigants in Lasioderma serricorne, a major global insect pest of stored products, remain poorly understood. In this study, two CYP genes, named CYP6SZ3 and CYP6AEL1, were identified from L. serricorne, belonging to the CYP6 family and containing five conserved domains characteristic of CYP proteins. Spatiotemporal expression analysis revealed that both genes were predominantly expressed in the larval stage and showed the highest expression in the foregut.Upon exposure to ethyl formate and benzothiazole, both genes were upregulated, with significantly increased transcription levels following treatment. RNA interference-mediated silencing of CYP6SZ3 and CYP6AEL1 led to increased susceptibility and significantly higher mortality of L. serricorne when exposed to these fumigants. Homology modeling and molecular docking analyses showed stable binding of these fumigants to CYP6SZ3 and CYP6AEL1 proteins, with binding free energies from -26.88 to -94.68 kcal mol -1 . These findings suggest that the induction of CYP6SZ3 and CYP6AEL1 is likely involved in the detoxification of ethyl formate and benzothiazole in L. serricorne.

    Keywords: Lasioderma serricorne, cytochrome P450, Gene Expression, detoxification, molecular docking

    Received: 30 Sep 2024; Accepted: 07 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Li, Ma, Yang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Kang-Kang Xu, Guiyang University, Guiyang, China

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