Potential of Cucurbitacin B and Epigallocatechin Gallate as Biopesticides against Aphis gossypii

Abstract

Aphis gossypii (Glover) is distributed worldwide and causes substantial economic and ecological problems owing to its rapid reproduction and high pesticide resistance. Plant-derived cucurbitacin B (CucB) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) are known to have insecticidal and repellent activities. However, their insecticidal activity on cotton- and cucurbit-specialized aphids (CO and CU), the two important host biotypes of A. gossypii, remains to be investigated. In the present study, we characterized, for the first time, the effects of these two plant extracts on the two host biotypes of A. gossypii. CucB and EGCG significantly reduced the A. gossypii population-level fitness and affected their ability to adapt to nonhost plants. Activities of important detoxification enzymes were also altered, indicating that pesticide resistance is weakened in the tested aphids. Our results suggest that CucB and EGCG have unique properties and may be developed as potential biopesticides for aphid control in agriculture.

Compatibility of Beauveria bassiana and a Plant Secondary Metabolite: A Novel Modeling Approach to Invade Host Defense for Effective Control of Oligonychus afrasiaticus (McGregor) on Date Palms

“…Obtained results indicated that synergistic effect greatly induced the relative GST and AchE activities compared to control treatment. The enhanced defenserelated enzymatic response revealed especially from the interaction treatments (synergistic interactions) with a higher proportion of % (+)-α-Pinene represents date palm dust mites response, which ultimately leads to strong physiological stress also confirmed by previous studies conducted on the host defense mechanism [54][55][56][57]. Furthermore, our results on the physiological impacts of (+)-α-Pinene and B. bassiana ARSEF 8465 conidia against date palm dust mites are consistent with those of Zibaee and Bandani [58], who reported significantly enhanced GST response among Eurygaster integriceps Puton exposed with Artemisia annua.…”

(+)‐Catechin, epicatechin and epigallocatechin gallate are important inducible defensive compounds against Ectropis grisescens in tea plants

“…For instance, epicatechin was reported to be an effective antifungal defence in black poplar ( Populus nigra ) against foliar rust infection (Ullah et al, 2017); moreover, esterified gallate catechins, such as epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin gallate and gallotannic acid, were found to induce plant defences (Goupil et al, 2020). As important components of catechins, epigallocatechin gallate, epicatechin, epigallocatechin and epicatechin gallate were verified to be effective antifungals or antifeedants against insects in vitro (Lopez et al, 2016; Zhao et al, 2021). In tea plants, most studies have mainly focused on the formation and changes of catechins under abiotic stresses to improve tea quality (Z.X.…”

Chromosome‐level genome assemblies of two cotton‐melon aphid Aphis gossypii biotypes unveil mechanisms of host adaption

“…After feeding A. gossypii on leaves treated with cucurbitacin, GST activity increased significantly (Zhao et al, 2021). Interestingly, GST showed a high level of conservation between Hap1 and Hap3.…”

“…Terpenoids and cucurbitacin are the major secondary metabolites produced by cotton and Cucurbitaceae plants, respectively (Zhao et al, 2021). We collected A. gossypii from cucumber plots that can tolerate low concentrations of cucurbitacin B (Yousaf et al, 2018).…”

“…It has been demonstrated that this behaviour is mediated by a series of proteins, such as odorant-binding (OBP) and chemosensory (CSP) proteins, and olfactory (OR), gustatory (GR) and ionotropic (IR) receptor families (Pelosi et al, 2018;Robertson, 2019;Zhu et al, 2016). Due to the environmental pressures imposed by secondary metabolites and pesticides, A. gossypii have evolved a stronger detoxification capacity (Zhao et al, 2021), of which the enzymes cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) and glutathione S-transferase (GST) are the two main examples (A. Chen et al, 2020).…”