Drosophila X virus‐like particles as delivery carriers for improved oral insecticidal efficacy of scorpion Androctonus australis peptide against the invasive fruit fly, Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

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 suzukii. Our results show that the fusion proteins of DXV polyproteins with AaIT peptide at their C‐termini 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 AaIT 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‐AaIT (38%), while no mortality occurred in the group treated with AaIT peptide, thus indicating the significant role of DXV‐VLPs in delivering AaIT 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.