Biological activities and gene expression of detoxifying enzymes in Tribolium castaneum induced by Moutan cortex essential oil

ABSTRACT

Tribolium castaneum is one of the most harmful storage pests in the world. The aim of this study was to determine the chemical composition, repellent, and contact activities of Moutan cortex essential oil against this insect pest. In addition, the effects of Moutan cortex were examined on the expressions of three major detoxifying enzyme genes in T. castaneum. Four components were identified in this essential oil by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), which was predominantly paeonol (99.13%). Paeonol exerted significant repellent activity against T. castaneum, which was more potent than the positive control N.N-diethyl-meta-toluamide (DEET). The most significant contact toxicity was observed at 24 h after exposure to paeonol. Further, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to assess expression changes in three detoxification enzyme genes in T. castaneum, including carboxylesterase (CarE), glutathione S-transferase (Gst) and cytochrome P4506BQ8 (Cyp6bq8). Among these, Gst was most highly up-regulated after treatment with paeonol with the highest expression level of 4.9-fold (Rps18 as internal reference gene) greater than control at 24 h following treatment. Data indicated that Gst might play a critical role in metabolic detoxification of toxic xenobiotics. Taken together, our findings might lay a foundation for development of paeonol as a potential natural repellent or pesticide to control storage pests.

KEYWORDS:

• Storage pest
• paeonol
• repellent activity
• contact toxicity
• qRT-PCR

Acknowledgments

This project was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant No. 18JCQNJC83700) and Tianjin Municipal Education Commission (Grant No. 2018KJ191).

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Chunxue You. Due to containing information that could compromise the privacy of research participants, the data are not publicly available.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin [18JCQNJC83700] and Tianjin Municipal Education Commission [2018KJ191].