Impact of Beauveria bassiana on antioxidant enzyme activities and metabolomic profiles of Spodoptera frugiperda

Spodoptera frugiperda is a pest that poses a serious threat to the production of food and crops. Entomopathogenic fungi, such as Beauveria bassiana, have shown potential for S. frugiperda control. However, the mechanism of this biological control of pathogens is not fully understood, such as how antioxidant enzyme activities and metabolic profiles in S. frugiperda larvae are affected when infected by entomopathogenic fungi. This study assessed the antioxidant enzyme activities and shift in metabolomic profile in the S. frugiperda larvae infected with B.bassiana. The results indicate a pattern of initial increase and subsequent decrease in the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase in the B.bassiana-infected larvae. And the enzyme activities at 60 h of infection ended significantly lower than those of the uninfected larvae. A total of 93 differential metabolites were identified in the B.bassiana-infected larvae, of which 41 metabolites were up-regulated and 52 were down-regulated. These metabolites mainly included amino acids, nucleotides, lipids, carbohydrates, and their derivatives. Among the changed metabolites, cystathionine, L-tyrosine, L-dopa, arginine, alpha-ketoglutaric acid, D-sedoheptulose-7phosphate and citric acid were significantly decreased in B. bassiana-infected larvae. This indicated that the fungal infection might impair the ability of S. frugiperda larvae to cope with oxidative stress, leading to a negative impact of organism fitness. Further analyses of key metabolic pathways reveal that B. bassiana infection might affect purine metabolism, arginine biosynthesis, butanoate metabolism, and phenylalanine metabolism of S. frugiperda larvae. The findings from this study will contribute to our understanding of oxidative stress on immune defense in insects, and offer fundamental support for the biological control of S. frugiperda.

Automated summary

This study assessed the changes in antioxidant enzyme activities and metabolomic profile in S. frugiperda larvae infected with B. bassiana. The results showed an initial increase and subsequent decrease in the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the infected larvae. A total of 93 differential metabolites were identified, with 41 up-regulated and 52 down-regulated. Further analysis revealed that B. bassiana infection affected key metabolic pathways in S. frugiperda larvae.