Fall armyworm sensitivity to flavone: Limited role of constitutive and induced detoxifying enzyme activity

We used inhibition and induction of detoxifying enzymes to determine whether these enzymes allow a generalist species (Spodoptera frugiperda; fall armyworms) to cope with ingestion of the flavonoid, flavone. Flavone induces polysubstrate monooxygenases (PSMO), general esterases (GE), and glutathioneS-transferases (GST) inS. frugiperda, yet this species is affected deleteriously by low dietary concentrations of this allelochemical. First, in a series of experiments, larvae were fed artificial diets containing increasing concentrations of flavone, either alone or with known inhibitors of either PSMO, GE, or GST enzymes. In an additional treatment, flavone and inhibitors of all three enzyme systems were administered in diets simultaneously. PSMO and GE activities were reduced in vivo by their respective inhibitors, whereas that of GST was induced or unchanged. Significant synergism of flavone's growth-reducing activity occurred at the highest concentration tested (0.125% fresh mass, fm) when the PSMO inhibitor, piperonyl butoxide, or the GST inhibitor, diethyl maleate, was added to the diet, and at 0.08% fm flavone, when combined with the GE inhibitor, tri-tolyl phosphate. In many cases, however, the additive effect (i.e., reduction in growth owing to flavone alone + inhibitor alone) was greater than the synergistic effect, and no synergism occurred in the treatment with the three inhibitors combined. In the second approach, caterpillars were preexposed to a concentration of flavone (0.02% fm) that induced these enzymes ca. 1.5- to 2.5-fold, prior to switching larvae to a diet containing a higher (growth-reducing) flavone concentration (0.125% fm). The relative growth rates (RGR) of induced larvae were significantly greater (14%) than those of the uninduced larvae on the 0.125% fm flavone diet. Additionally, in two of the three experiments, relative consumption rate (RCR) was significantly greater (7-24%) in induced compared with uninduced larvae. The variable responses to inhibitor treatment and the relatively small benefit of enzyme induction suggest that these enzyme systems have minimal impact on the detoxification of flavone inS. frugiperda, even though this allelochemical induces enzyme activity and has been reported to be metabolized in vitro.