Effects of chlorbenzuron on cuticle formation of hyphantria cunea (lepidoptera: erebidae) and its detoxification metabolism

Despite the major role of benzoylureas (BPUs) in the control of pests in agricultural and forestry, their molecular mechanisms have in most cases remained elusive. BPUs cause molting impairments and were thought to interfere with chitin biosynthesis. Here, chlorbenzuron-treated Hyphantria cunea was subjected to extensive transcriptomic and proteomic analyses to investigate the toxicological mechanisms by which BPUs induce abortive molting and decrease chitin in insects. Following chlorbenzuron treatment, the transcriptomic analysis yielded 1973 differentially expressed genes (DEGs), while the proteomic analysis yielded 714 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs). The DEGs and DEPs were functionally annotated using Gene Ontology (GO) and analyzed using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway database. Comprehensive transcript and protein analyses revealed that DEGs and DEPs were co-regulated in insect cuticle biosynthesis and detoxification metabolism. Of note, these genes and proteins, as well as their associated dysregulated pathways, could be promising targets for research into the precise action site of BPUs. This research provides large-scale omics data that can be used to better understand the overall mechanism of action of BPUs and the cause of death in insects.