Entomotoxic effects of fungal lectin from Rhizoctonia solani towards Spodoptera littoralis

The effects of the Rhizoctonia solani lectin (RSA) on the growth, development and survival of an economically important caterpillar in agriculture and horticulture, the cotton leafworm, Spodoptera littoralis were studied. The high lectin concentration present in the sclerotes of the soil pathogen R. solani allowed the purification of large amounts of the pure lectin for feeding experiments with cotton leafworm. Rearing of insects on a diet containing different concentrations of RSA exerted a strong effect on the larval weight gain. This effect was visible at the lowest concentration of 0.1 % RSA at day 8 and day 11. Interestingly with 1 % RSA, there was a dramatic reduction in larval weight of 89 % at the end of L6 which was followed by a high mortality rate of 82 % in the treated larvae. Furthermore, the other developmental stages of pupation and adult formation were also affected. In addition, the data demonstrated that the combination of RSA with Bt toxin yielded synergistic effects. For instance, 0.03 % RSA + 0.005 % Bt toxin caused reduced growth rate and higher mortalities. These findings suggest that RSA is an interesting tool that can be used for bioengineering insect resistance in important agronomical crops. (C) 2009 The British Mycological Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.