Apoptosis induction by concanavalin A in gut cells of grain aphid

Abstract

In this study, the toxicity and mechanism of action of concanavalin A (ConA) in the grain aphid (Sitobion avenae) were studied. Feeding assays with S. avenae on an artificial diet containing different concentrations of ConA demonstrated an inhibitory effect on fecundity as well as high mortality caused by this lectin. ConA also increased the pre-reproductive period and the development time and reduced the intrinsic rate of natural increase. Moreover, an extract of the gut of treated S. avenae demonstrated an increase in caspase-3 activity together with DNA fragmentation, suggesting that ConA can induce the apoptotic pathway. These results suggest that ConA may be detrimental in insect gut tissues and the interaction of ConA with epithelial cells may be responsible for the observed insecticidal effects.