Capturing the transcription factor interactome in response to sub-lethal insecticide exposure

Abstract

The increasing levels of pesticide resistance in agricultural pests and disease vectors represents a threat to both food security and global health. As insecticide resistance intensity strengthens and spreads, the likelihood of a pest encountering a sub-lethal dose of pesticide dramatically increases. Here, we apply dynamic Bayesian networks to a transcriptome time-course generated using sub-lethal pyrethroid exposure on a highly resistant Anopheles coluzzii population. The model accounts for circadian rhythm and ageing effects allowing high confidence identification of transcription factors with key roles in pesticide response. The associations generated by this model show high concordance with lab-based validation and identifies 44 transcription factors regulating insecticide-responsive transcripts. We identify six key regulators, with each displaying differing enrichment terms, demonstrating the complexity of pesticide response. The considerable overlap of resistance mechanisms in agricultural pests and disease vectors strongly suggests that these findings are relevant in a wide variety of pest species.

Transcriptomic modulation in response to an intoxication with deltamethrin in Triatoma infestans, vector of Chagas disease

“…From them, three upregulated genes possess a basic leucine zipper (bZIP_1) domain (Table 4 in S1 file). Proteins belonging to bZIP family have been related to detoxification and insecticide resistance in other insects [77–82]. One of the transcripts that contains this domain is TRINITY_DN1498_c3_g1_i1.p1, which seems to be an homologue of the Cyclic-AMP response element binding protein B (CREB) (Fig 1 and Table 4 in S1 file).…”

“…Another upregulated gene (TRINITY_DN1194_c5_g1_i1.p1), which encodes an helix-loop-helix DNA-binding domain (PF00010) (Fig 1 and Table 4 in S1 file), seems to be related to the D. melanogaster transcription factor diminutive . This gene was previously implicated in pyrethroid resistance in Anopheles gambiae [20] and in the regulation of transcripts related to the response to insecticides [82]. Whether CREB and diminutive genes have a role in insecticide detoxification and resistance in T. infestans deserves to be studied.…”