Molecular mechanisms for selective action of afidopyropen to Myzus persicae and Coccinella septempunctata

BACKGROUND Afidopyropen is a novel insecticide with high selectivity between sucking insects such as the peach aphids Myzus persicae and natural enemies like the seven‐spotted lady beetle Coccinella septempunctata. However, the mechanisms of selective action for afidopyropen remain unknown. RESULTS The LC50 values of afidopyropen to the 1st–4th instar larvae and adult C. septempunctata were 372‐ to more than 7267‐fold higher than that to adult M. persicae. Though the activity of cytochrome P450s in M. persicae was 6.1‐ to 7.5‐fold higher than that in C. septempunctata, the latter has much higher activities of carboxylesterase (CarEs) and glutathione S‐transferases (GSTs), and the crude enzyme of C. septempunctata and M. persicae showed similar metabolism efficiency to afidopyropen. Molecular docking results demonstrated that afdopyropen showed higher binding affinity to the vanilloid‐type transient receptor potential (TRPV) channel of M. persicae (−9.1 kcal/mol) than to that of C. septempunctata (−8.2 kcal/mol). And the EC50 value of afdopyropen to the TRPV channel of C. septempunctata (41 360 nM) was 19 885‐fold higher than that in M. persicae (2.08 nM). CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrated that the significantly different sensitivity of M. persicae and C. septempunctata TRPV channel to afidopyropen play a key role in the high selectivity of afidopyropen. These findings provide new insights into the selective mechanisms of afidopyropen against insect pests and natural enemies as well as the theory support for coordinated application of chemical control and biological control. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry. High selectivity of afidopyropen in to Myzus persicae over Coccinella septempunctata attributed to the extremely high sensitivity of MpTRPV and less sensitivity of CsTRPV channel to afidopyropen.