Metabolomics Reveals Changes in Metabolite Profiles among Pre-Diapause, Diapause and Post-Diapause Larvae of Sitodiplosis mosellana (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

Abstract

Sitodiplosis mosellana, a notorious pest of wheat worldwide, copes with temperature extremes during harsh summers and winters by entering obligatory diapause as larvae. However, the metabolic adaptive mechanism underlying this process is largely unknown. In this study, we performed a comparative metabolomics analysis on S. mosellana larvae at four programmed developmental stages, i.e., pre-diapause, diapause, low temperature quiescence and post-diapause development. In total, we identified 54 differential metabolites based on pairwise comparisons of the four groups. Of these metabolites, 37 decreased in response to diapause, including 4 TCA cycle intermediates (malic acid, citric acid, fumaric acid, α-ketoglutaric acid), 2 saturated fatty acids (palmitic acid, stearic acid) and most amino acids. In contrast, nine metabolites, including trehalose, glycerol, mannitol, proline, alanine, oleic acid and linoleic acid were significantly higher in both the diapause and quiescent stages than the other two stages. In addition to two of them (trehalose, proline), glutamine was also significantly highest in the cold quiescence stage. These elevated metabolites could function as cryoprotectants and/or energy reserves. These findings suggest that the reduced TCA cycle activity and elevated biosynthesis of functional metabolites are most likely responsible for maintaining low metabolic activity and cold tolerance during diapause, which is crucial for the survival and post-diapause development of this pest.

TM7 (Saccharibacteria) regulates the synthesis of linolelaidic acid and tricosanoic acid, and alters the key metabolites in diapause Clanis bilineata tsingtauica

“…Similar with our results, Li et al (2015) studied the metabonomic characteristics of diapause Aphidius gifuensi and found that the most significantly enriched pathways were also focused on amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism. The result of significantly higher D-glutamine on day 28 might be due to that glutamine accumulated considerably in diapause larvae for their cold tolerance, and similar results has also been found in Sarcophaga crassipalpis and Sitodiplosis mosellana (Michaud and Denlinger, 2007;Huang et al, 2022). Glucose and glutamine also participated in providing nutrients for the metabolism during immune response in insects (Dolezal et al, 2019).…”

Natural Clerodendrum-derived tick repellent: learning from Nepali culture

“…Nevertheless, it has been elucidated for this organic acid to have powerful antimicrobial effect properties against several foodborne pathogens (Ramos et al 2013 ; Salaheen et al 2014 ; Park et al 2016 ). Moreover, biosynthesis of functional metabolites such as fumaric acid is associated with survival and development at extreme high and low temperatures in Diptera such as Sitodiplosis mosellana (Huang et al 2022 ), a process that may be also present during tick developmental and pathogen transmission dynamics (Gray et al 2016 ).…”

Population genomics of Agrotis segetum provide insights into the local adaptive evolution of agricultural pests

“…TPS regulates the synthesis of trehalose, the main blood sugar in insects, and it can help insects resist low temperatures and other adverse environments. It has been proven to be involved in regulating diapause in many insects, including the cotton bollworm, Sericinus montelus and Sitodiplosis mosellana [ 51 , 59 , 60 ]. Trehalose is one of the important cold-resistant substances in A. segetum [ 45 ].…”