AUTHOR=Du Lingen , Zhao Likang , Zhu Xiangzhen , Wang Li , Zhang Kaixin , Li Dongyang , Ji Jichao , Niu Lin , Luo Junyu , Cui Jinjie , Gao Xueke 

TITLE=Sublethal and intergenerational effects of fipronil on Binodoxys communis larvae based on transcriptome sequencing

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2022.1080601

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2022.1080601

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=Fipronil is widely used in the agricultural world as an efficient phenylpyrazole insecticide to control pests. B. communis is a key parasitic natural enemy of major homopteran pests and can successfully control the population of pests such as cotton aphids. It has not yet been studied what effects would sublethal doses of fipronil have on B. communis larvae. Here we evaluate the effect of fipronil on B. communis larvae and analyze the transcriptome results, which showed that LC10 and LC25 had significant negative effects on the survival rate and parasitism rate of F0 generation, and even of F1 generation for LC25. These results indicate that sublethal doses of fipronil have malignant effects on the biological functions of parasitoids and their offspring. The results of transcriptome analysis shows that differentially expressed genes (DEGs) of B. communis after LC10 treatment are mainly related to immunity and detoxification. LC25 treatment instead resulted in changes in the expression of genes related to nutrition, energy and metabolism reactions. Seven of the identified DEGs were selected for real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR analysis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to evaluate the sublethal, intergenerational, and transcriptomic side effects of fipronil on larvae of parasitic natural pest enemies. Our findings provide data to accurately assess the risk of fipronil usage on B. communis larvae, and provide important theoretical support for the comprehensive prevention and control of natural enemies and pesticides.