Effects of Vip3AcAa+Cry1Ac Cotton on Midgut Tissue in Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

To determine cellular changes caused by the chimeric protein Vip3AcAa against Helicoverpa armigera, we used transmission electron microscopy to examine ultrastructural changes in midgut cells of third-instar larvae of Cry1Ac-susceptible H. armigera after feeding on an artificial diet containing the Vip3AcAa toxin. Midgut epithelial cells of Cry1Ac-resistant H. armigera larvae that had fed on an artificial diet containing Vip3AcAa or on Bt cotton expressing Vip3AcAa+Cry1Ac were also examined using optical microscopy and hematoxylin–eosin staining. In the midgut cells of H. armigera larvae fed with Vip3AcAa, microvilli were swollen and broken; inner cristae of the mitochondria were indistinct and vacuolated; endoplasmic reticulum was swollen, fractured, and disordered; boundaries of karyotheca in the nucleus were indistinct and chromatin underwent pyknosis and was pressed close to the karyotheca. Histopathological changes and the time of onset in midgut tissues of H. armigera larvae fed on Vip3AcAa or Cry1Ac were similar. Vip3AcAa and transgenic cotton expressing Vip3AcAa+Cry1Ac caused the goblet cell cavity and microvilli pathological changes in the midgut epithelial cells of the Cry1Ac-susceptible and Cry1Ac-resistant H. armigera larvae that eventually killed the larvae.