Schizophyllum commune induced genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in Spodoptera litura

Abstract

In search for ecofriendly alternatives to chemical insecticides the present study was conducted to assess the insecticidal potential of an endophytic fungus Schizophyllum commune and its mechanism of toxicity by studying genotoxic and cytotoxic effects as well as repair potential using Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) as a model. Different endophytic fungi were isolated and tested for their insecticidal potential against S. litura. Among the tested endophytic fungi maximum mortality against S. litura was exhibited by S. commune isolated from Aloe vera. Extended development, reduced adult emergence was observed in larvae fed on diet supplemented with fungal extract. In addition to it the fungus also has propensity to increase oxidative stress which leads to significantly higher DNA damage. The significantly lower frequency of living haemocytes and increased frequency of apoptotic and necrotic cells was also observed in larvae treated with fungal extract. The extent of recovery of damage caused by fungus was found to be very low indicating long term effect of treatment. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of various phenolics, terpenoids and protein in fungal extract. Biosafety analysis indicated the non toxic nature of extract. This is the first report showing the insecticidal potential of S. commune and the genotoxic and cytotoxic effects associated with it.

Evaluation of genotoxic and cytotoxic effects of ethyl acetate extract of Aspergillus flavus on Spodoptera litura

“…Indeed increased levels of DNA damage were observed in the present study after treatment with A. flavus extract which may be due to increased lipid peroxidation. The results are similar to previous research by Kaur et al (2018) conducted on S. litura after treatment with the fungus Schizophyllum commune and in Schistocerca gregaria (Forsskal) after treatment with heavy metals (Yousef et al 2010).…”

“…Kaur et al . () checked the toxicity of fungal extract on CHO cell lines and obtained similar results as the present study.…”

“…The significant higher MDA content observed in treated insects as compared to control insects is consistent with work reported previously in S. litura by Kaur et al . (). Similar increases in lipid peroxidation were also observed in S. litura and Galleria mellonella (Linnaeus) after exposure to heavy metals and boric acid respectively (Büyükgüzel et al .…”

“…The results are similar to previous research by Kaur et al . () conducted on S. litura after treatment with the fungus Schizophyllum commune and in Schistocerca gregaria (Forsskal) after treatment with heavy metals (Yousef et al . ).…”

“…It has been successfully applied to the cells of various animal groups to analyse qualitative and qualitative DNA damage and repair (Malyapa et al 1998;Wozniak and Blasiak 2003). Few studies have reported DNA damages in insects as Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) (Siddique et al 2005), grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus (Thunberg) (Augustyniak et al 2015) and Spodoptera litura (Fabricius) (Yun et al 2014;Kaur et al 2018).…”