Hemipteran group of sap sucking insect pests cause worldwide crop destruction. The role of mannose specific monocot lectins have recently been worked out in hemipteran pest management. The present article demonstrates the insecticidal efficacy of a new mannose specific agglutinin, isolated from tubers of Amorphophallus paeonifolius (AMTL) against a wide range of hemipteran insects. The 25 kDa dimeric protein was found to inhibit the survivability of hemipteran insects namely, Lipaphis erysimi , Aphis gossypii and Dysdercus cingulatus quite efficiently, as analysed by synthetic diet based bioassay experiments. Surface Plasmon Resonance study detected binding of insecticidal AMTL to insect gut brush border membrane vesicle (BBMV) protein, an absolute prerequisite for conferring toxicity against target insects. Further ligand blot analysis spotted a ~74 kDa glycoprotein as putative receptor of AMTL from the total BBMV protein fraction of Lipaphis erysimi . Phylogenetic analysis showed a significant relatedness of AMTL to the previously established monocot lectin Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) in terms of their conserved mannose binding domains, agglutinating ability of rabbit erythrocytes and insecticidal efficacies. These information project AMTL as a promising candidate in preventing crop loss caused due to hemipteran insect attack.
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