A Nano-Delivery System Enhances the Stomach Toxicity of Methoxyfenozide against Spodoptera litura by Suppressing the Synthesis of Insect Cuticle Protein

作者：Qinhong Jiang, Zhonglong Lin, Min Peng, Bingcheng Zhou, Enliang Liu, Zhiqiang Li, Ying Wei, Hailin Yang, Fan Song, Meizhen Yin, Jie Shen, Shuo Yan · 发表于：ACS Applied Nano Materials · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1021/acsanm.3c02186 · 被引用次数：28 · 研究领域：Insect Resistance and Genetics、Insect and Pesticide Research、Pesticide and Herbicide Environmental Studies

There is a growing demand for applying green pesticides instead of traditional synthetic pesticides to minimize potential threats to food and environmental safety. Insect growth regulators (IGRs) are regarded as a secure alternative, but their control efficacy needs to be improved to meet actual demands. Herein, a star polymer (SPc) was constructed and applied as an efficient pesticide nanocarrier, which could be spontaneously conjugated with IGR methoxyfenozide via hydrogen bonding with a high pesticide loading content of 32.66%. The combination of the methoxyfenozide/SPc complex at a mass ratio of 1:1 could break the self-aggregated methoxyfenozide, reducing its particle size from 1084 to 27 nm, and the methoxyfenozide/SPc complex consisted of smooth spherical nanoparticles with uniform distribution. Importantly, with the aid of SPc, the mortality of methoxyfenozide-treated Spodoptera litura larvae was significantly increased by 1.2 times at 1 day and 2.2 times at 7 days after the oral feeding. Meanwhile, the weight and length of the survival larvae fed with the methoxyfenozide/SPc complex were less than those with methoxyfenozide alone. Transcriptome results revealed that the oral feeding of the methoxyfenozide/SPc complex could further disturb the expression of various key genes related to insect hormone synthesis and metabolism, hormone receptor, and cuticle biosynthesis. In larvae exposed to the methoxyfenozide/SPc complex, we observed the downregulation of key genes in...