Abstract
Sulfoxaflor is a new systemic insecticide developed as a replacement for older neonicotinoids which are known to be toxic to pollinators. However, its metabolism in nectar and effect on nectar biosynthesis have not been investigated. After soil and foliar application, sulfoxaflor and its main metabolites in soil, leaf and Salvia splendens nectar, were measured by liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS). The chemical composition between the clean and sulfoxaflor spiked nectar were also compared. The activities of two possible sulfoxaflor detoxifying enzymes in S. splendens nectar, nitrile hydratase and glutathione-s-transferase, were measured by LC-MS and spectrophotometry. S. splendens nectar proteome was investigated by high-resolution orbitrap-based MS/MS to screen for sulfoxaflor detoxifying relevant proteins. S. splendens could absorb sulfoxaflor through root or leaf surface and secrete a proportion of sulfoxaflor along with its metabolites into the nectar. After soil application, sulfoxaflor’s low toxic metabolite X11719474 was dominant in the nectar and reached an average concentration of 8905 ppb. However, after foliar application, sulfoxaflor was dominant over its metabolites in the nectar. S. splendens nectar has no nitrile hydratase and glutathione-s-transferase activity and none of the 106 proteins identified in the nectar were predicted to function in detoxifying sulfoxaflor. Soil and foliar sulfoxaflor application can result in different profiles of sulfoxaflor and its metabolites presented in the nectar. However, sulfoxaflor had no effects on S. splendens nectar secretion and chemical composition and cannot be directly detoxified by components in the nectar.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Qiu-Yuan Zha for his help in fieldwork.
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This work was supported by the Collaborative Innovation Centre of Plant Physiology and Active Ingredient Research of Huangshan University (to HGZ); National Natural Science Foundation of China Science (32070258 to HGZ); Key Project of Natural Science for High School in Anhui Province (KJ2020A0689 to HZ); National College Students’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (201810375005 to HGZ, 202110375051 to MHC, and 201810375109 to HXZ); Open Fund of Laboratory of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yunnan University (to HGZ); and Huangshan University’s scientific research project (2021JZZK001 to YQS).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by HXZ, MHC, WJG, MFH, XYL, JZ and YQS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by HGZ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Zhou, HX., Chen, MH., Gu, WJ. et al. Identification and quantitation of the novel insecticide sulfoxaflor and its metabolites in floral nectar from Salvia splendens Ker Gawl. (Lamiaceae). Ecotoxicology 31, 1310–1320 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-022-02590-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-022-02590-y