Identification and characterization of ATP-binding cassette transporters involved in chlorantraniliprole tolerance of model insect Drosophila melanogaster and agricultural pest Spodoptera frugiperda

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter family is one of the largest transporter families, which plays an important role in insecticide tolerance. In this study, we found that the ABC transporter inhibitor verapamil could significantly enhance the toxicity of chlorantraniliprole (CHL) to the model insect Drosophila melanogaster. Forty-six ABC transporter genes of D. melanogaster were knocked down through the daughterless-GAL4 (Da-GAL4) strain. The subsequent bioassay result showed that D. melanogaster with DmCG5772, DmCG1494, and DmCG5853 genes silencing significantly increased mortality after CHL treatment. Based on the genome of the fall armyworm (FAW), three genes with the best hits were identified, and SfABCA1 (XM_035576510.2) and SfABCG10 (XM_035577893.2) were successfully cloned. Spatiotemporal expression pattern analysis showed that SfABCA1 and SfABCG10 were both highly expressed in adult and pupal stages. Hemolymph was also a tissue with high expression of these two genes. LC₁₀ dose of CHL could induce the expression levels of SfABCA1 and SfABCG10, with SfABCG10 upregulated 8-fold after 48 h of CHL treatment. Furthermore, overexpression of SfABCA1 and SfABCG10 increased the viability of Sf9 cell under CHL treatment. Our findings indicate that SfABCA1 and SfABCG10 might associate with the tolerance of CHL in S. frugiperda. These results are not only helpful in understanding the role of ABC transporters in CHL tolerance of other agricultural pests, but also lay a theoretical foundation for delaying the development of CHL resistance in pest management.