Agricultural pest infestation is as old as domestication of food crops and contributes a major share to the cost of crop production. In a transgenic pest control approach, plant production of Vip3A, an insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis, is effective against lepidopteran pests. A synthetic Vip3A gene was evaluated for efficacy against Spodoptera litura Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; cotton leafworm), Spodoptera exigua Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; beet armyworm), Spodoptera frugiperda Smith (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; fall armyworm), Helicoverpa armigera Hübner (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; cotton bollworm), Helicoverpa zea Boddie (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; corn earworm), Heliothis virescens Fabricius (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae; tobacco budworm), and Manduca sexta L. (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae; tobacco hornworm) in tobacco. In artificial diet assays, the concentration required to achieve 50% mortality was highest for H. zea followed by H. virescens > S. exigua > H. armigera > M. sexta > S. frugiperda > S. litura. By contrast, in bioassays with detached leaves from Vip3A transgenic tobacco, the time until 50% lethality was M. sexta > H. virescens > S. litura > H. zea > H. armigera > S. exigua. There was no significant correlation between the artificial diet and transgenic plant bioassay results. Notably, the two insect species that are best-adapted for growth on tobacco, M. sexta and H. virescens, showed the greatest time to 50% mortality on Vip3A-transgenic tobacco. Together, our results suggest that artificial diet assays may be a poor predictor of Vip3A efficacy in transgenic plants, lepidopteran species vary in their sensitivity to Vip3A in diet-dependent manner, and host plant adaptation of the targeted herbivores should be considered when designing transgenic plants for pest control.

中文翻译：

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Vip3A 对鳞翅目食草动物的体外和植物毒性比较

农业害虫侵扰与粮食作物的驯化一样古老，在作物生产成本中占很大比例。在转基因害虫防治方法中，植物生产的 Vip3A（一种来自苏云金芽孢杆菌的杀虫蛋白）可有效对抗鳞翅目害虫。评估了合成 Vip3A 基因对斜纹夜蛾（鳞翅目：夜蛾科；棉叶虫）、甜菜夜蛾（鳞翅目：夜蛾科；甜菜夜蛾）、草地夜蛾（鳞翅目：夜蛾科；秋粘虫）、棉夜蛾（棉夜蛾）的功效：夜蛾科；棉铃虫）、棉铃虫（鳞翅目：夜蛾科；玉米耳虫）、日光夜蛾（鳞翅目：夜蛾科；烟草芽虫）和烟草中的烟草天蛾（鳞翅目：天蛾科；烟草角虫）。在人工饲料分析中，玉米达到 50% 死亡率所需的浓度最高，其次是 H. virescens > S. exigua > H. armigera > M. sexta > S. frugiperda > S. litura。相比之下，在从 Vip3A 转基因烟草中分离叶子的生物测定中，达到 50% 致死率的时间是 M. sexta > H. virescens > S. litura > H. zea > H. armigera > S. exigua。人工饮食与转基因植物生物测定结果之间没有显着相关性。值得注意的是，最适合在烟草上生长的两种昆虫 M. sexta 和 H. virescens 在 Vip3A 转基因烟草上显示出达到 50% 死亡率的最长时间。总之，我们的结果表明，人工饮食测定可能无法预测 Vip3A 在转基因植物中的功效，