An Epsilon Class Glutathione S-Transferase Gene Contributes to the Phytochemical Susceptibility of Tribolium castaneum (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae)1

Abstract

Evidence is accumulating that insect epsilon class glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) play an important role in the resistance to xenobiotics such as insecticides. A Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) (Coleoptera: Tenebrionidae) epsilon class GST gene, TcGSTe17, was previously found to be significantly induced following exposure to the plant derivative eucalyptol. However, whether TcGSTe17 is involved in resistance to eucalyptol remains unclear. In this study, TcGSTe17 was cloned from the T. castaneum. Development stage expression profiling revealed that TcGSTe17 was expressed at all development stages of T. castaneum but was highly expressed in late-stage larvae. Subsequent expression profiling of tissues showed that TcGSTe17 was highly expressed in the gut of larvae and the fat body of adults, and also revealed gender-specific expression patterns. In addition, the transcripts of TcGSTe17 were significantly increased following exposure to eucalyptol, and RNAi increased the susceptibility of the beetles to eucalyptol. Collectively, these results suggest that TcGSTe17 contributes to the susceptibility of T. castaneum to eucalyptol. These findings provide new data for the prevention of pest resistance.