Spirotetramat, a member of tetronic and tetramic acid derivatives, is a unique insecticide and acaricide. Although the effect on zebrafish embryos lipid biosynthesis of spirotetramat has been characterized, the energy metabolism and toxic effect mechanism warrant further investigation. To investigate the toxic mechanism of spirotetramat on energy metabolism, zebrafish embryos were exposed to 100, 500 and 1000 µg/L of spirotetramat for 4 days. Untargeted metabolomics showed the synthesis and degradation of ketone pathway metabolites (R)-3-Hydroxybutyric acid and Acetoacetate significantly decreased, as well as increasing the abundance of Anti-Acetyl Coenzyme A Carboxylase protein (ACC1). Down-regulation of the genes related to ß-oxidation and the tricarboxylic acid cycle in the embryos show decreased energy metabolism. Carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1 (CPT- I) significantly decreased while citrate synthase (CS) significantly increased. Additionally, mitochondrial lesions in embryos were found using electron microscopy. Our study provides novel and robust perspectives, which show that spirotetramat treatment in embryos leads to metabolic disturbances that adversely affect cellular energy homeostasis.
Keywords: Energy metabolism; Mitochondrion; Spirotetramat; Untargeted metabolomics; Zebrafish embryo.
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