Department of Entomology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
PLoS Genet. 2021 Oct 28;17(10):e1009888. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009888. eCollection 2021 Oct.
The evolution of resistance to insecticides is well known to be closely associated with the overexpression of detoxifying enzymes. Although the role of glutathione S-transferase (GST) genes in insecticide resistance has been widely reported, the underlying regulatory mechanisms are poorly understood. Here, one GST gene (GSTu1) and its antisense transcript (lnc-GSTu1-AS) were identified and cloned, and both of them were upregulated in several chlorantraniliprole-resistant Plutella xylostella populations. GSTu1 was confirmed to be involved in chlorantraniliprole resistance by direct degradation of this insecticide. Furthermore, we demonstrated that lnc-GSTu1-AS interacted with GSTu1 by forming an RNA duplex, which masked the binding site of miR-8525-5p at the GSTu1-3'UTR. In summary, we revealed that lnc-GSTu1-AS maintained the mRNA stability of GSTu1 by preventing its degradation that could have been induced by miR-8525-5p and thus increased the resistance of P. xylostella to chlorantraniliprole. Our findings reveal a new noncoding RNA-mediated pathway that regulates the expression of detoxifying enzymes in insecticide-resistant insects and offer opportunities for the further understanding of the mechanisms of insecticide and drug resistance.
昆虫对杀虫剂的抗药性的进化与解毒酶的过度表达密切相关。虽然谷胱甘肽 S-转移酶（GST）基因在杀虫剂抗性中的作用已被广泛报道，但对其潜在的调控机制仍知之甚少。在这里，我们鉴定并克隆了一个 GST 基因（GSTu1）及其反义转录本（lnc-GSTu1-AS），它们在几种氯虫苯甲酰胺抗性小菜蛾种群中均上调表达。通过直接降解这种杀虫剂，证实 GSTu1 参与了氯虫苯甲酰胺的抗性。此外，我们还证明了 lnc-GSTu1-AS 通过形成 RNA 双链与 GSTu1 相互作用，从而掩盖了 miR-8525-5p 在 GSTu1-3'UTR 上的结合位点。综上所述，我们揭示了 lnc-GSTu1-AS 通过阻止可能由 miR-8525-5p 诱导的 GSTu1 的降解，从而维持 GSTu1 的 mRNA 稳定性，从而增加了小菜蛾对氯虫苯甲酰胺的抗性。我们的研究结果揭示了一个新的非编码 RNA 介导的途径，该途径调节了杀虫剂抗性昆虫中解毒酶的表达，并为进一步了解杀虫剂和药物抗性的机制提供了机会。
