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Downregulation of chitin synthase A gene by diallyl trisulfide, an active substance from garlic essential oil, inhibits oviposition and alters the morphology of adult Sitotroga cerealella

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Abstract

The Angoumois grain moth, Sitotroga cerealella Olivier (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), is the most serious and destructive pest of stored commodities around the globe, particularly on wheat, rice and maize. Previously, we confirmed that diallyl trisulfide (DAT), an active substance from garlic essential oil, reduced oviposition of females after a fumigation at the sublethal concentration (LC20 = 0.015 µL/L); meanwhile, through transcriptome sequencing, we found that DAT significantly downregulates the expression of chitin synthase A (CHSA) gene. To gain a broader insight, we assessed effects of DAT and dsRNA of CHSA gene of S. cerealella (dsScerCHSA) on the morphology, physiology and oviposition of adult S. cerealella, and we found that ScerCHSA was expressed in the adult stage and observed higher in the cuticle. Furthermore, results indicated that DAT fumigation significantly downregulated the mRNA expression of ScerCHSA and inhibited moth oviposition at the sublethal concentration. Downregulation of ScerCHSA resulted in chitin reduction, epidermal disruption, morphological and physiological alterations. Meanwhile, silencing of ScerCHSA resulted in the oviposition reduction of the moth; moreover, the morphological and physiological alterations were similar to the group treated with DAT. Therefore, we conclude that DAT could regulate the expression of ScerCHSA at the transcriptional level, cause histological and morphological alteration and finally inhibit the moth oviposition, which proves DAT possesses the great potential for being used in pest control as a friendly biopesticide.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Abbas for kind help in microscopy. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31871955), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFD0201009), the National Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Project (2016ZX08012-005), Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (2017CFB541), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.2662017JC032) and the China Scholarship Council (CSC) to Sakhawat shah.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Insect Resources Utilization and Sustainable Pest Management Key Laboratory, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Sakhawat Shah, Meng-Ya Wu, Su-Su Zhang, Gang Wu & Feng-Lian Yang

  2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Zhejiang Sustainable Pest and Disease Control, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Institute of Plant Protection and Microbiology, 310021, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Hafeez

  3. College of Horticulture and Forestry Sciences, Huazhong Agricultural University, 430070, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Muhammad Ilyas

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  1. Sakhawat Shah
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Shah, S., Hafeez, M., Wu, MY. et al. Downregulation of chitin synthase A gene by diallyl trisulfide, an active substance from garlic essential oil, inhibits oviposition and alters the morphology of adult Sitotroga cerealella. J Pest Sci 93, 1097–1106 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10340-020-01226-6

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