1. Introduction
The
Acyrthosiphon gossypii Mordviiko (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is an important economic pest, mainly damaging cotton and legume crops [
1], It also damages Malvaceae, Brassicaceae, Cruciferae, Zygophyllaceae, Asteraceae, and Rosaceae plants.
A. gossypii is known to be only distributed in Xinjiang and Gansu provinces in China [
2]. At present, cotton aphids are one of the main pests in Xinjiang cotton region, the largest and main cotton-producing area in China. Adults and nymphs of
A. gossypii suck the juice of cotton leaves, stems, and tender shoots during the seedling stage, causing serious crop damages through direct feeding, honeydew excretion, and damaging bud bolls, thus affecting the development of cotton plants [
3]. Due to their small size, rapid reproduction, and large number, the management of cotton aphids poses a great challenge [
4]. Chemical insecticides are widely used to control these pests. However, the frequent application and over-reliance on chemical insecticides resulted in the rapid evolution of resistance. Recent reports show that aphids have resistance to most commonly used insecticides in the field [
5,
6].
Nitenpyram is a second-generation neonicotinoid insecticide developed and commercialized by Takeda Agro [
7,
8,
9]. Nitenpyram acts on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR), and it has a nerve-blocking effect on synaptic receptors in the central nervous system of insects, thereby achieving insecticidal effects [
10], Nitenpyram has been widely used in the prevention and control of piercing-sucking mouthpart pests such as
Aphis gossypii [
11],
Nilaparvata lugens [
12],
Bemisia tabaci [
7]. However, the resistance of pests to nitenpyram has been widely reported, which will lead to a resurgence of pests [
13].
Driven by biotic and abiotic factors, pesticides continue to degrade, and surviving individuals exposed to sublethal concentrations of pesticides will experience sublethal effects [
14,
15]. Exposure to sublethal concentrations of pesticides directly affects the development, reproduction, survival rate, feeding behavior, of insects [
16,
17,
18], and indirectly affects their descendants through transgenerational inheritance, thus causing changes in population dynamics [
19,
20]. The sublethal effects vary with different insecticide types. The sublethal effects of pesticides often have negative effects on the growth, development and reproduction of individual pests. For example, under treatment with flonicamid, the longevity and fecundity of
Schizaphis graminum parents are significantly reduced, and the population growth parameters
λ (finite rate of increase),
R0 (net reproductive rate),
r (intrinsic increase rate), longevity and fecundity of the F1 generation are also significantly reduced [
21].
Low concentrations of chlorpyrifos and spirotetramat can significantly reduce fecundity, oviposition period, and female and male longevity of
Aenasius bambawalei [
22]. However, pesticides have been reported to promote population number growth of pests. For example, flupyradifurone stimulates the fecundity of
Aphis craccivora and induces its transgenerational hormesis effects [
20]. Hormesis effects have been also reported in cotton aphids under low-concentration treatments of Thiamethoxam [
23]. This hormesis effect not only results in the ineffectiveness of chemical control, but also promotes the rapid development of insecticide resistance.
Insecticides affect both the insect life cycle characteristics and their symbiotic bacteria [
24,
25]. It has been reported that symbiotic bacteria are directly or indirectly involved in the resistance of insects to insecticide [
26].
Citrobacter freundii, an intestinal symbiont of
Bactrocera dorsalis, degrades trichlorphon into chloral hydrate and dimethyl phosphite, thus enhancing the host’s resistance to trichlorphon [
27]. The density of symbiotic bacteria
Serratia and
Acinetobacter in insecticide-resistant
Aedes albopictus is higher than that in sensitive individuals, indicating that
Serratia and
Acinetobacter promote the development of resistance in
Aedes albopictus [
28]. Similarly,
Stenotrophomonas enhances silkworm tolerance to chlorpyrifos, thus contributing to the host resistance to its toxic effects [
29]. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the role of insect symbionts in the development of insecticide resistance during pest management.
This study determined the toxicity of nitenpyram to A. gossypii, and investigated the sublethal effect of nitenpyram sublethal concentrationon A. gossypii based on life table analysis. In addition, we further revealed the mechanism of sublethal effects using 16S rRNA sequencing and examined the effect of nitenpyram on the diversity and composition of the bacterial community of A. gossypii. This study provides an insight into the potential impact of nitenpyram on A. gossypii, and offers valuable references of the development of prevention and control strategies against A. gossypii.
4. Discussion
In the natural environment, pesticides continue to degrade after their initial use, and individual insects are constantly exposed to these pesticides, causing sublethal effects on various physiology and behaviors such as fecundity, lifespan, immunity, and biochemistry[
15,
40,
41]. Which further causes pest resurgence, and this is known as the adaptive mechanisms of organisms for their survival [
42]. In this study, the population growth of
A. gossypii was affected by LC
20 nitenpyram treatment, and its symbiotic bacterial community also changed significantly.
In this study, the fecundity and lifespan of G0
A. gossypii adults were significantly reduced after 48-hour direct exposure to LC
20 nitenpyram. Similar adverse effects have been reported when
Schizaphis graminum is exposed to sublethal concentrations of flonicamid [
21]. Consistently, imidacloprid at LC
15, LC
25, and LC
35 significantly reduced the fecundity, lifespan, and reproductive period of the G0 adults of
Metopolophium dirhodum [
43]. The results showed that nitenpyram inhibited the growth of the G0 population of
A. gossypii.
The 48-hour nitenpyram treatment on the parent G0 adults resulted in transgenerational sublethal effects on the development period, the adult pre-oviposition period (APOP), and the total pre-ovipositional period (TPOP), and other parameters of the offspring G1-G2. After the parent G0 adults were exposed to pesticides, the development period of each instar of the G1-G2 was prolonged. This developmental delay might be a detoxification mechanism at the expense of development and reproduction[
44,
45]. For example, LC
25 flupyradifurone significantly prolonged the 4th instar nymphal period and adult period of the F1 generation of cotton aphid [
46],and LC
10 and LC
25 broflanilide significantly prolonged the 3rd instar nymphal period of
Myzus persicae [
47]. In this study, compared with those in the control group, the fecundity and life span, and APOP of the G1-G2 in nitenpyram treatment group were significantly reduced.
In addition, the population growth parameter analysis results showed that the values of
rm,
λ, and
R0 of the G1-G2 in nitenpyram treatment group were significantly lower than those in the control group. On the contrary, under the stress of sublethal concentration of nitenpyram, the mean generation time (
T) of
A. gossypii was significantly higher than that in the control group. This might be attributed to the energy shortage induced by insects’ adaptation to the pesticide stress under the exposure to pesticides [
48]. Furthermore, the reduced fecundity and lifespan indicate hormesis deficiency, which is an important manifestation of the sublethal effects of pesticides [
46]. Similarly, sublethal concentration of afidopyropen has been reported to significantly reduce the key parameters
rm,
λ,
R0, lifespan, and fecundity of the offspring population of
Aphis gossypii [
49]. The sublethal effects of afidopyropen on
Myzus persicae at sublethal concentrations is in line with our results [
50]. Therefore, it could be concluded that sublethal concentrations of nitenpyram can change the population structure of
A. gossypii offspring G1-G2 and slow down their population growth. However, there are also different findings in the previous studies. For example, after treatment with sublethal concentrations of imidacloprid, insecticide-induced hormesis is detected in the progeny of
Metopolophium dirhodum[
43] and
A. gossypii [
51], indicating that imidacloprid treatment significantly promoted the population growth of progeny aphids. This reported difference in the sublethal effects of pesticides on insects may be attributed to the differences in the structure and efficacy of different types of pesticides, different application times and concentrations of the same type of pesticides, different insect species, actual application conditions, and others [
52,
53,
54].
In contrast,
r,
λ,
R0, and fecundity of G3 adults were increased after treatment of the parent
A. gossypii G0 with sublethal concentration of nitenpyram, but there were no significant differences between treatment group and the control group. The population growth rate of
A. gossypii G3 was increased, compared with that of G1 and G2, which might be a compensation mechanism to restore the initial population density after the mother generation was treated with nitenpyram [
55]. This result indicated that the G3 population of
A. gossypii returned to a stable state.
Insect symbiont interactions are critical for insects’ survival and growth [
56,
57,
58]. It has been widely reported that insect-related symbiotic bacteria are involved in the detoxification of chemical pesticides [
59,
60,
61]. In this study, the bacterial community of three successive generations (G0-G2) of
A. gossypii was mainly composed of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota, and Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria, Morganellaceae, and
Buchnera are the dominant bacteria at the phylum, family, and genus levels respectively. Our result is consistent with the bacterial composition of cotton aphids reported in previous studies [
51,
62]. Our results also showed that nitenpyram treatment significantly reduced the relative abundance of
Buchnera in the G0
A. gossypii after 48 h, but increased the relative abundance of this genus in G1 and G2, compared with the control group (
Table S3). Numerous studies have shown that
Buchnera, as the primary symbiont of aphids, affects the nutritional metabolism and normal development of the host [
63,
64], and it is also involved in the development of insecticide resistance [
65,
66]. Our data showed the changes in the relative abundance of
Buchnera in three consecutive generations (G0-G2), which might be attributed to the stimulation of pesticides, or the reduction in population adaptability of
A. gossypii.
Sphingomonas is a kind of degradation bacteria [
67], and its relative abundance in the intestine of imidacloprid-resistant cotton aphids is higher than that of imidacloprid-sensitive cotton aphids.
Sphingomonas isolated from the intestine of imidacloprid resistant cotton aphids can effectively metabolize imidacloprid [
68]. In this study, nitenpyram treatment significantly increased the relative abundance of
Sphingomonas in the G0, but decreased it in the G1 and G2 (
Table S3). The direct exposure of
A. gossypii to nitenpyram increased the relative abundance of
Sphingomonas in the G0, which might be due to the stress response of
A. gossypii to nitenpyram, and
Sphingomona might be involved in the development of resistance to nitenpyram in
A. gossypii. The reduced relative abundance of
Sphingomonas in offspring
A. gossypii might be affected by the balance of the host bacterial community.
Figure 1.
The fecundity (a) and longevity (b) of A. gossypii (G0 generation) directly exposed for 48 h to LC20 of nitenpyram. Asterisk above the error bars show significant differences at P< 0.05 (t-test).
Figure 1.
The fecundity (a) and longevity (b) of A. gossypii (G0 generation) directly exposed for 48 h to LC20 of nitenpyram. Asterisk above the error bars show significant differences at P< 0.05 (t-test).
Figure 2.
Age-specific survival rate (lx), Age-specific fecundity (mx), Age-specific maternity (lxmx) , and Age-specific reproductive value (Vx) of A. gossypii in G1 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram.
Figure 2.
Age-specific survival rate (lx), Age-specific fecundity (mx), Age-specific maternity (lxmx) , and Age-specific reproductive value (Vx) of A. gossypii in G1 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram.
Figure 3.
Age-stage-specific survival rates (sxj) and Age-stage-specific life expectancy (exj) of A. gossypii in G1 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram. Figures (a) and (b) are the control group, and Figures (c) and (d) are the nitenpyram group.
Figure 3.
Age-stage-specific survival rates (sxj) and Age-stage-specific life expectancy (exj) of A. gossypii in G1 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram. Figures (a) and (b) are the control group, and Figures (c) and (d) are the nitenpyram group.
Figure 4.
Age-specific survival rate (lx), Age-specific fecundity (mx), Age-specific maternity (lxmx) , and Age-specific reproductive value (Vx) of A. goss ypii in G2 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram.
Figure 4.
Age-specific survival rate (lx), Age-specific fecundity (mx), Age-specific maternity (lxmx) , and Age-specific reproductive value (Vx) of A. goss ypii in G2 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram.
Figure 5.
Age-stage-specific survival rates (sxj) and Age-stage-specific life expectancy (exj) of A. gossypii in G2 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram. Figures (a) and (b) are the control group, and Figures (c) and (d) are the nitenpyram group.
Figure 5.
Age-stage-specific survival rates (sxj) and Age-stage-specific life expectancy (exj) of A. gossypii in G2 generation after G0 treated with LC20 of nitenpyram. Figures (a) and (b) are the control group, and Figures (c) and (d) are the nitenpyram group.
Figure 6.
Rarefaction curves, Chao1diversity index and sample clustering analysis plot of bacterial communities in A. gossypii G0-G2. (a) Observed species. (b) Goods coverage diversity index. (c) Chao1 diversity index. (d) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) G0-G2 of bacterial communities of A. gossypii exposed to nitenpyram. Green, yellow and red circles represent control group (G0-G2) respectively. Purple, blue and brown circles represent treatment group (G0-G2) respectively.
Figure 6.
Rarefaction curves, Chao1diversity index and sample clustering analysis plot of bacterial communities in A. gossypii G0-G2. (a) Observed species. (b) Goods coverage diversity index. (c) Chao1 diversity index. (d) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) G0-G2 of bacterial communities of A. gossypii exposed to nitenpyram. Green, yellow and red circles represent control group (G0-G2) respectively. Purple, blue and brown circles represent treatment group (G0-G2) respectively.
Figure 7.
Heat map of bacterial communities of
A. gossypii to at different taxonomic levels after nitenpyram expose (a, b). (a) Heat map of the top 15 abundant symbiotic bacteria of
A. gossypii in three successive generations at the family level. (b) Heat map of the top 15 abundant symbiotic bacteria of
A. gossypii in three successive generations at the genus level. Orange indicates a high relative abundance of species, while blue indicates a low relative abundance of species. Generate heat map based on the data in
Table S3.
Figure 7.
Heat map of bacterial communities of
A. gossypii to at different taxonomic levels after nitenpyram expose (a, b). (a) Heat map of the top 15 abundant symbiotic bacteria of
A. gossypii in three successive generations at the family level. (b) Heat map of the top 15 abundant symbiotic bacteria of
A. gossypii in three successive generations at the genus level. Orange indicates a high relative abundance of species, while blue indicates a low relative abundance of species. Generate heat map based on the data in
Table S3.
Figure 8.
Comparison of relative abundance of two typical symbiotic bacteria in A. gossypii control group and nitenpyram treatment group. (a) The relative abundance of Buchnera was significant different between the treatment group and the control group in G0 and G1 generation. (b) The relative abundance of Sphingomonas was significant different between the treatment group and the control group in G0 generation. An asterisk indicates a significant difference between the control group and the treatment group at the P < 0.05 level (t-test).
Figure 8.
Comparison of relative abundance of two typical symbiotic bacteria in A. gossypii control group and nitenpyram treatment group. (a) The relative abundance of Buchnera was significant different between the treatment group and the control group in G0 and G1 generation. (b) The relative abundance of Sphingomonas was significant different between the treatment group and the control group in G0 generation. An asterisk indicates a significant difference between the control group and the treatment group at the P < 0.05 level (t-test).
Figure 9.
Score map of different species of bacterial community of the A. gossypii (G0-G2). The green bars represent species that were relatively abundant in the control group, and the purple bars represent species that were relatively abundant in the treatment group.
Figure 9.
Score map of different species of bacterial community of the A. gossypii (G0-G2). The green bars represent species that were relatively abundant in the control group, and the purple bars represent species that were relatively abundant in the treatment group.
Table 1.
Acute toxicity of nitenpyram to A. gossypii adults after 48 h exposure.
Table 1.
Acute toxicity of nitenpyram to A. gossypii adults after 48 h exposure.
Treatment |
Slope ± SEa
|
LC20 (mg·L−1) (95% CL)b
|
LC50 (mg·L−1) (95% CL)b
|
R2
|
Nitenpyram |
1.41±0.31 |
2.49 (0.78-4.31) |
10.12 (6.34-17.08) |
0.98 |
Table 2.
Effect of nitenpyram LC20 on life history parameters of A. gossypii in the G1-G3 generation.
Table 2.
Effect of nitenpyram LC20 on life history parameters of A. gossypii in the G1-G3 generation.
Treatments |
First instar (d) |
P |
Second instar (d) |
P |
Third instar (d) |
P |
Fourth instar (d) |
P |
Pre-adult (d) |
P |
APOP (d) |
P |
TPOP (d) |
P |
Longevity (d) |
P |
Fecundity |
P |
G1 |
Control |
1.60±0.09 |
0.20 |
1.87±0.09 |
0.02 |
1.77±0.09 |
0.56 |
1.90±0.09 |
0.01 |
7.13±0.11 |
<0.001 |
0.27±0.08 |
<0.001 |
7.40±0.14 |
<0.001 |
23.10±0.28 |
0.01 |
45.67±1.10 |
<0.001 |
Nitenpyram |
1.77±0.08 |
2.17±0.08 |
1.83±0.07 |
2.27±0.10 |
8.03±0.12 |
0.00±0.00 |
8.03±0.12 |
22.03±0.31 |
39.83±1.20 |
G2 |
Control |
1.50±0.09 |
0.70 |
1.97±0.11 |
0.19 |
1.73±0.08 |
0.08 |
1.83±0.08 |
0.29 |
7.03±0.09 |
<0.001 |
0.13±0.06 |
0.69 |
7.17±0.11 |
0.004 |
23.10±0.22 |
0.002 |
44.80±0.99 |
0.001 |
Nitenpyram |
1.57±0.09 |
2.13±0.06 |
1.93±0.07 |
1.97±0.07 |
7.60±0.13 |
0.10±0.05 |
7.70±0.14 |
21.97±0.30 |
40.27±1.03 |
G3 |
Control |
1.60±0.09 |
0.79 |
1.97±0.06 |
0.53 |
1.87±0.06 |
0.60 |
1.97±0.06 |
0.48 |
7.40±0.12 |
0.11 |
0.07±0.05 |
0.81 |
7.47±0.12 |
0.21 |
22.13±0.25 |
0.04 |
43.17±1.23 |
0.34 |
Nitenpyram |
1.57±0.09 |
1.87±0.15 |
1.80±0.07 |
1.87±0.10 |
7.10±0.14 |
0.10±0.05 |
7.20±0.17 |
22.87±0.25 |
44.63±0.90 |
Table 3.
Transgenerational effects of nitenpyram on the demographic index of G1-G3 generation A. gossypii descending from G0 adults exposed to LC20 concentrations.
Table 3.
Transgenerational effects of nitenpyram on the demographic index of G1-G3 generation A. gossypii descending from G0 adults exposed to LC20 concentrations.
Treatments |
R0 |
P |
rm |
P |
λ |
P |
T |
P |
G1 |
Control |
45.67±1.10 |
<0.001 |
0.31±0.004 |
<0.001 |
1.36±0.006 |
<0.001 |
12.29±0.19 |
0.02 |
Nitenpyram |
39.83±1.20 |
0.29±0.004 |
1.33±0.005 |
12.88±0.15 |
G2 |
Control |
44.80±0.99 |
0.001 |
0.32±0.004 |
0.006 |
1.37±0.006 |
0.006 |
11.97±0.16 |
0.13 |
Nitenpyram |
40.27±1.03 |
0.30±0.005 |
1.35±0.007 |
12.34±0.19 |
G3 |
Control |
43.17±1.23 |
0.34 |
0.31±0.004 |
0.070 |
1.36±0.006 |
0.07 |
12.26±0.17 |
0.16 |
Nitenpyram |
44.63±0.90 |
0.32±0.005 |
1.38±0.007 |
11.90±0.19 |
Table 4.
Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA of A gossypii with diversity indices.
Table 4.
Sequencing analysis of 16S rRNA of A gossypii with diversity indices.
Samples |
Raw_reads |
filtered |
ASV_counts |
chao1 |
goods_coverage |
shannon |
observed_species |
simpson |
ACE |
CK-G0 |
79947 |
76925 |
229 |
228.96 |
1.00 |
1.22 |
228.60 |
0.27 |
228.06 |
N-G0 |
79587 |
76499 |
315 |
314.75 |
1.00 |
3.86 |
314.63 |
0.72 |
316.08 |
CK-G1 |
80480 |
77255 |
289 |
289.02 |
1.00 |
3.06 |
288.90 |
0.71 |
289.35 |
N-G1 |
81553 |
78381 |
181 |
180.94 |
1.00 |
1.06 |
180.77 |
0.23 |
180.97 |
CK-G2 |
79600 |
76584 |
247 |
247.34 |
1.00 |
2.37 |
247.30 |
0.64 |
247.43 |
N-G2 |
79847 |
76721 |
220 |
220.54 |
1.00 |
1.10 |
220.23 |
0.22 |
220.24 |