Influence of an elevated CO2level on life history parameters and hormone pathway or vitellogenin metabolism of the brown planthopper

Abstract The growth, development and reproduction of herbivorous insects could be altered due to changes in quality and quantity of their host plants under elevated CO 2 . The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens , is one of the most serious and destructive economic pests in rice growing areas in Asia. In this study, we investigated the effect of elevated CO 2 on the growth, development and reproduction of N. lugens and, in particular, on the hormonal regulation of the transcription factors in N. lugens . The results indicated that compared with ambient CO 2 , elevated CO 2 significantly shortened the duration of egg and nymph, longevity of female adults and total adults, and significantly decreased the weight of adults; besides, elevated CO 2 significantly improved the fecundity of female adults, egg hatching rata and the transcription levels of Vg . The relative expression levels of JHMAT‐ and FAMeT ‐regulated synthesis of JH were first down‐regulated and then up‐regulated with the development of the 5th instar nymph of N. lugens under elevated CO 2 . In addition, the relative expression level of cyp314a1 played an important role in synthesis of ecdysone was up‐regulated in the 5th instar nymph of N. lugens under elevated CO 2 . We have demonstrated that elevated CO 2 could accelerate the development and improve the reproduction of N. lugens , which is related to the transcription levels of JH, MH and Vg.