Panaxadiol saponins treatment caused the subtle variations in the global transcriptional state of Asiatic corn borer, Ostrinia furnacalis

BACKGROUND: The lepidopteran Asiatic corn borer (ACB), Ostriniafurnacalis (Guenee), has caused huge economic losses throughout the Asian-Western Pacific region. Usually, chemical pesticides are used for the control, but excessive use of pesticides has caused great harm. Therefore, the inartificial ecotypic pesticides to ACB are extremely essential. In our previous study, we found that panaxadiol saponins (PDS) can effectively reduce the harm of ACB by causing antifeedant activity. Therefore, it is necessary to reveal the biological molecular changes in ACB and the functionary mechanism of PDS. METHODS: We analyzed the global transcription of ACB with different PDS concentration treatment (5 mg/mL, 10 mg/mL, and 25 mg/mL) by high-throughput sequencing and de novo transcriptome assembly method. RESULTS: PDS treatment could cause the changes of many gene expressions which regulate its signal pathways. The genes in peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway were significantly downregulated, and then, the downstream fatty acid degradation pathway had also been greatly affected. CONCLUSION: Through this experiment, we hypothesized that the occurrence of antifeedant action of ACB is because the PDS brought about the downregulation of FATP and FABP, the key regulators in the PPAR, and the downregulation of FATP and FABP exerts further effects on the expression of SCD-1, ACBP, LPL, SCP-X, and ACO, which leads to the disorder of PPAR signaling pathway and the fatty acid degradation pathway. Not only that, PDS treatment leads to enzyme activity decrease by inhibiting the expression of genes associated with catalytic activity, such as cytochrome P450 and other similar genes.