Two cuticle-enriched chemosensory proteins confer multi-insecticide resistance in Spodoptera frugiperda.

Recent studies revealed that insect chemosensory proteins (CSPs) both play essential roles in insect olfaction and insect resistance. However, functional evidence supporting the crosslink between CSP and insecticide resistance remains unexplored. In the present study, 22 SfruCSP transcripts were identified from the fall armyworm (FAW) and SfruCSP1 and SfruCSP2 are enriched in the larval cuticle and could be induced by multiple insecticides. Both SfruCSP1 and SfruCSP2 are highly expressed in the larval inner endocuticle and outer epicuticle, and these two proteins exhibited high binding affinities with three insecticides (chlorfenapyr, chlorpyrifos, and indoxacarb). The knockdown of SfruCSP1 and SfruCSP2 increased the susceptibility of FAW larvae to the above three insecticides, and significantly increased the penetration ratios of these insecticides. Our in vitro and in vivo evidence suggests that SfruCSP1 and SfruCSP2 are insecticide binding proteins and confer FAW larval resistance to chlorfenapyr, chlorpyrifos, and indoxacarb by an insecticide sequestration mechanism. The study should aid in the exploration of larval cuticle-enriched CSPs for insect resistance management.