Römer Clara I, Ashauer Roman, Escher Beate I, Hollender Juliane, Burkhard René, Höfer Kristin, Muehlebach Michel, Buchholz Anke
Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Research Biology and Chemistry, Stein, Switzerland.
Syngenta Crop Protection AG, Basel, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2025 Apr 28;20(4):e0321302. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0321302. eCollection 2025.
A critical understanding of how pests interact with active ingredients is essential for the development of new insect control solutions to maintain crop quality and quantity by reducing insect damage. Absorption of insecticides into insect bodies of targeted pest species is the first critical step that confounds the efficacy of insecticides. This study investigated how different feeding behaviour of two pests, Myzus persicae and Spodoptera littoralis, affects the absorption, metabolism, and excretion (AME) of seven insecticidally inactive test compounds. A feeding contact assay for the chewing pest (Lepidopteran larvae) and an oral ingestion assay for the sucking pest (aphids) was used to investigate the AME of test compounds with agrochemical-like structural motifs. The standardized assays comprised of an exposure period with treated diet and a subsequent depuration period with untreated diet. The results showed that S. littoralis larvae differed from M. persicae in their compound quantities absorbed into the insect body and in their excretion products at the end of the exposure or depuration periods. We suggest that this is caused by their different ingestion types and rates resulting in different absorption and excretion quantities. Further, we found differences in the metabolism (timing and biotransformation pathways) of compounds between both species. Notably, certain compounds remained detectable in both pests after the depuration period, suggesting compound and species-specific metabolism and excretion. Our results highlight the complex interplay between feeding biology of insects, in particular the critical role of excretion products, and the exposure to different compounds that lead to species-specific AME.
深入了解害虫与活性成分之间的相互作用对于开发新的昆虫防治解决方案至关重要，这些方案旨在通过减少昆虫损害来维持作物的质量和产量。杀虫剂进入目标害虫物种的虫体是影响杀虫剂功效的第一个关键步骤。本研究调查了两种害虫——桃蚜（Myzus persicae）和滨海灰翅夜蛾（Spodoptera littoralis）的不同取食行为如何影响七种无杀虫活性的测试化合物的吸收、代谢和排泄（AME）。对咀嚼式害虫（鳞翅目幼虫）采用取食接触试验，对刺吸式害虫（蚜虫）采用口服摄入试验，以研究具有农用化学品类似结构特征的测试化合物的AME。标准化试验包括用处理过的食物进行暴露期，随后用未处理的食物进行净化期。结果表明，滨海灰翅夜蛾幼虫与桃蚜在暴露期或净化期结束时吸收到虫体内的化合物量以及排泄产物方面存在差异。我们认为这是由于它们不同的摄食类型和速率导致吸收和排泄量不同所致。此外，我们发现两种害虫在化合物的代谢（时间和生物转化途径）方面存在差异。值得注意的是，在净化期后，两种害虫体内仍可检测到某些化合物，这表明存在化合物和物种特异性的代谢和排泄。我们的研究结果突出了昆虫取食生物学之间的复杂相互作用，特别是排泄产物的关键作用，以及接触不同化合物导致物种特异性AME的情况。
