The adoption of pest-resistant transgenic plants to reduce yield losses and de- crease pesticide use has been successful. To achieve the goal of controlling both chewing and sucking pests in a given transgenic plant, ...The adoption of pest-resistant transgenic plants to reduce yield losses and de- crease pesticide use has been successful. To achieve the goal of controlling both chewing and sucking pests in a given transgenic plant, we generated transgenic tobacco, Arabidopsis, and rice plants expressing the fusion protein, AalT/GNA, in which an insecticidal scor- pion venom neurotoxin （Androctonus australis toxin, AalT） is fused to snowdrop lectin （Galanthus nivalis agglutinin, GNA）. Compared with transgenic tobacco and Arabidop- sis plants expressing AaIT or GNA, transgenic plants expressing AalT/GNA exhibited increased resistance and toxicity to one chewing pest, the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. Transgenic tobacco and rice plants expressing AalT/GNA showed increased resistance and toxicity to two sucking pests, the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and the rice brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, respectively. Moreover, in the field, transgenic rice plants expressing AalT/GNA exhibited a significant improvement in grain yield when infested with N. lugens. This study shows that expressing the AalT/GNA fusion protein in transgenic plants can be a useful approach for controlling pests, particularly sucking pests which are not susceptible to the toxin in Bt crops.展开更多
Insect-specific neurotoxic peptides derived from the venoms of scorpions and spiders can cause acute paralysis and death when injected into insects,offering a promising insecticidal component for insect pest control.H...Insect-specific neurotoxic peptides derived from the venoms of scorpions and spiders can cause acute paralysis and death when injected into insects,offering a promising insecticidal component for insect pest control.However,effective delivery systems are required to help neurotoxic peptides pass through the gut barrier into the hemolymph,where they can act.Here,we investigated the potential of a novel nanocarrier,Drosophila X virus-like particle(DXV-VLP),for delivering a neurotoxin from the scorpion Androctonus australis Hector(AaIT)against the invasive pest fruit fly,Drosophila suzuki.Our results show that the fusion proteins of DXV polyproteins with AalT peptide at their Ctermini could be sufficiently produced in Lepidoptera Hi5 cells in a soluble form using the recombinant baculovirus expression system,and could self-assemble into VLPs with similar particle morphology and size to authentic DXV virions.In addition,the AalT peptides displayed on DXV-VLPs retained their toxicity,as demonstrated in injection bioassays that resulted in severe mortality(72%)in adults after 72 h.When fed to adults,mild mortality was observed in the group treated with DXV-AalT(38%),while no mortality occurred in the group treated with AaIT peptide,thus indicating the significant role of DXV-VLPs in delivering AalT peptides.Overall,this proof-of-concept study demonstrates for the first time that VLPs can be exploited to enhance oral delivery of insect-specific neurotoxic peptides in the context of pest control.Moreover,it provides insights for further improvements and potentially the development of neurotoxin-based bioinsecticides and/or transgenic crops for insect pest control.展开更多
基金This study was supported by the National Program for the Development of New Transgenic Species of China （2014ZX08010-016B to S Li and 2011ZX08011-006 to XXC） and the National Science Foundation of China （31302034 to Shumin Liu）. We thank Nature Publishing Group for polishing the English language.
文摘The adoption of pest-resistant transgenic plants to reduce yield losses and de- crease pesticide use has been successful. To achieve the goal of controlling both chewing and sucking pests in a given transgenic plant, we generated transgenic tobacco, Arabidopsis, and rice plants expressing the fusion protein, AalT/GNA, in which an insecticidal scor- pion venom neurotoxin （Androctonus australis toxin, AalT） is fused to snowdrop lectin （Galanthus nivalis agglutinin, GNA）. Compared with transgenic tobacco and Arabidop- sis plants expressing AaIT or GNA, transgenic plants expressing AalT/GNA exhibited increased resistance and toxicity to one chewing pest, the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera. Transgenic tobacco and rice plants expressing AalT/GNA showed increased resistance and toxicity to two sucking pests, the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, and the rice brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, respectively. Moreover, in the field, transgenic rice plants expressing AalT/GNA exhibited a significant improvement in grain yield when infested with N. lugens. This study shows that expressing the AalT/GNA fusion protein in transgenic plants can be a useful approach for controlling pests, particularly sucking pests which are not susceptible to the toxin in Bt crops.
基金supported by the Special Research Fund of Ghent University and Research Foundation Flanders(FWO).CNTT is recipient of a senior postdoctoral fellowship from FWO(grant number 12V5722N).
文摘Insect-specific neurotoxic peptides derived from the venoms of scorpions and spiders can cause acute paralysis and death when injected into insects,offering a promising insecticidal component for insect pest control.However,effective delivery systems are required to help neurotoxic peptides pass through the gut barrier into the hemolymph,where they can act.Here,we investigated the potential of a novel nanocarrier,Drosophila X virus-like particle(DXV-VLP),for delivering a neurotoxin from the scorpion Androctonus australis Hector(AaIT)against the invasive pest fruit fly,Drosophila suzuki.Our results show that the fusion proteins of DXV polyproteins with AalT peptide at their Ctermini could be sufficiently produced in Lepidoptera Hi5 cells in a soluble form using the recombinant baculovirus expression system,and could self-assemble into VLPs with similar particle morphology and size to authentic DXV virions.In addition,the AalT peptides displayed on DXV-VLPs retained their toxicity,as demonstrated in injection bioassays that resulted in severe mortality(72%)in adults after 72 h.When fed to adults,mild mortality was observed in the group treated with DXV-AalT(38%),while no mortality occurred in the group treated with AaIT peptide,thus indicating the significant role of DXV-VLPs in delivering AalT peptides.Overall,this proof-of-concept study demonstrates for the first time that VLPs can be exploited to enhance oral delivery of insect-specific neurotoxic peptides in the context of pest control.Moreover,it provides insights for further improvements and potentially the development of neurotoxin-based bioinsecticides and/or transgenic crops for insect pest control.
