Project description:Cruciferous plants produce sulforaphane (SFN), an inhibitor of nuclear histone deacetylases (HDACs). In humans and other mammals, the consumption of SFN alters enzyme activities, DNA-histone binding, and gene expression within minutes. However, the ability of SFN to act as a HDAC inhibitor in nature, disrupting the epigenetic machinery of insects feeding on these plants, has not been explored. Here, we investigate the effect of SFN, as well as the pharmaceutical HDAC inhibitor Trichostatin A (TSA), consumed in the diet in the generalist grazer Spodoptera exigua and in the co-evolved specialist feeder Trichoplusia ni. To investigate the mechanisms of HDAC inhibition, we profiled transcriptome changes via RNA-seq in S. exigua and T. ni fat body tissues responding to SFN or TSA, in biological triplicate.
