MAPK-dependent hormonal signaling plasticity contributes to overcoming Bacillus thuringiensis toxin action in an insect host

Zhaojiang Guo (), Shi Kang, Dan Sun, Lijun Gong, Junlei Zhou, Jianying Qin, Le Guo, Liuhong Zhu, Yang Bai, Fan Ye, Qingjun Wu, Shaoli Wang, Neil Crickmore, Xuguo Zhou and Youjun Zhang ()
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Zhaojiang Guo: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Shi Kang: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Dan Sun: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Lijun Gong: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Junlei Zhou: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Jianying Qin: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Le Guo: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Liuhong Zhu: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Yang Bai: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Fan Ye: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Qingjun Wu: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Shaoli Wang: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Neil Crickmore: University of Sussex
Xuguo Zhou: University of Kentucky
Youjun Zhang: Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Abstract The arms race between entomopathogenic bacteria and their insect hosts is an excellent model for decoding the intricate coevolutionary processes of host-pathogen interaction. Here, we demonstrate that the MAPK signaling pathway is a general switch to trans-regulate differential expression of aminopeptidase N and other midgut genes in an insect host, diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), thereby countering the virulence effect of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins. Moreover, the MAPK cascade is activated and fine-tuned by the crosstalk between two major insect hormones, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH) to elicit an important physiological response (i.e. Bt resistance) without incurring the significant fitness costs often associated with pathogen resistance. Hormones are well known to orchestrate physiological trade-offs in a wide variety of organisms, and our work decodes a hitherto undescribed function of these classic hormones and suggests that hormonal signaling plasticity is a general cross-kingdom strategy to fend off pathogens.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16608-8

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