Liang, L., Jin, L., Mao, F., Fan, C., Kong, H., Zhang, Z., Pan, Y., Shang, Q. (2025). Fat body specific ABCG3 accounts for xenobiotic tolerance and is regulated by the homeobox transcription factor Bcd in Spodoptera litura.  Pestic. Biochem. Physiol. 215(): 106650.

FBrf0263750

Research paper

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters facilitate the transport of various macromolecules within organisms by binding to and hydrolyzing ATP. This study explored the role of SlABCG3 in conferring tolerance to xenobiotics in the globally distributed pest Spodoptera litura. RNA-seq and quantitative PCR (qPCR) results revealed the tissue-specific expression of SlABCG3 in the fat body. Ectopic expression of SlABCG3 in Drosophila melanogaster led to 2.61- and 2.56-fold increases in tolerance to cyantraniliprole and chlorantraniliprole, respectively. Compared with the UAS-SlABCG3 line, the Act5C > UAS-SlABCG3 line presented increased egg production and a lower mortality rate upon exposure to plant secondary metabolites. Furthermore, SlABCG3 knockdown resulted in mortality rates of 70 % and 76.67 % for third-instar larvae of S. litura exposed to cyantraniliprole and chlorantraniliprole, respectively. Additionally, there was a positive regulatory interaction between the tissue-specific transcription factor SlBcd and SlABCG3 in the fat body. Molecular docking results confirmed that SlABCG3 has a strong binding affinity for several of xenobiotics. These results suggest that SlABCG3 may be regulated by SlBcd, which will help us further understand the role of plant secondary metabolites in the mechanism of ABC gene-mediated insecticide tolerance.