Original paper
Cuticle thickening associated with the resistance of Aphis gossypii Glover to sulfoxaflor
Lv, Nannan; Li, Jiayun; Liang, Pei; Chen, Jie; Fan, Jianting
Entomologia Generalis Volume 45 Number 5 (2025), p. 1453 - 1462
published: Nov 18, 2025
published online: Jun 4, 2025
manuscript accepted: Apr 27, 2025
final revised version received: Mar 11, 2025
manuscript revision requested: Jan 10, 2025
manuscript received: Dec 17, 2024
ArtNo. ESP146004505019, Price: 29.00 €
Abstract
Abstract: Cuticle thickening slows down the cuticle penetration rate of pesticides, and is a critical determinant of pesticide resistance in insect pests. Existing reports suggest that detoxification metabolism is associated with the resistance of insects to sulfoxaflor. We found that cuticle thickening could mediate the resistance of Aphis gossypii to sulfoxaflor. The resistance ratio in the sulfoxaflor-resistant strain of A. gossypii determined by leaf-dipping method was 53.13, however, only 3.43 by root-absorption methods，by which insects can only ingest insecticides through feeding. Moreover, the mean cuticle thickness of the sulfoxaflor-resistant strains (2.4 μm) was significantly thicker than the sulfoxaflor-susceptible strains (1.4 μm). The above results suggested that cuticle thickening was involved in the resistance of A. gossypii to sulfoxaflor. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the genes associated with cuticular proteins (CPs) and chitin biosynthesis were up-regulated in the sulfoxaflor-resistant strain. RNA interference-mediated suppression of CP7-like, CP19-like, glucosamine-6 phosphate N-Acetyltransferase (GNPNAT1/GNA1) and chitin synthetase 2 (CHs2) significantly reduced cuticle thickness, thus increasing the susceptibility of A. gossypii to sulfoxaflor. Besides, analyses of metabolic profile demonstrated that the concentration of metabolites participated in chitin biosynthesis and cutin suberine and wax biosynthesis was significantly increased in the sulfoxaflor-resistant strain. These results suggested that the up-regulated transcription and metabolic pathways involved in cuticle biosynthesis contributed to cuticle thickening, which was the resistance mechanism of the sulfoxaflor-resistant strain to sulfoxaflor. Our study explained the resistance mechanism of pests to sulfoxaflor, from perspective of the non-metabolic, which could be useful for the management of sulfoxaflor-resistant pests.
Keywords
cuticle thickness • pesticide resistance • cuticle biosynthesis • chitin biosynthesis • cuticular proteins • pest management