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Student 10-Minute Presentation Competition

Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology

Student Competition

Student

Grad 10-min Competition: PBT, Molecular Biology

An integrative multi-omics approach towards understanding pyrrolizidine alkaloid sequestration in bella moth (Utetheisa ornatrix)

Monday, November 10, 2025

8:00 AM - 8:12 AM Pacific

Location: Oregon Convention Center, F152, OCC

Presenting Author(s)

Isabel Isabel Lopez-Cacacho

PhD candidate
University of Florida
Gainesville, Florida

Co-Author(s)

YW

Yi-Ming Weng

Posdoctoral Fellow
Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University
Onna, Okinawa, Japan
Paul Frandsen

Brigham Young University
Provo, Utah
CM

Christopher J. Martyniuk

Department of Physiological Sciences and Center for Environmental and Human Toxicology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; Interdisciplinary Program in Biomedical Sciences, Neuroscience, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA; University of Florida Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Gainesville, Florida
TG

Timothy J. Garrett

Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, University of Florida, College of Medicine, Gainesville, FL 32610, USA; Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Gainesville, Florida
Akito Y. Kawahara, Ph.D.

Professor and Curator
Florida Museum of Natural History
Gainesville, Florida

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) represent one of the leading secondary metabolites found in 3% of all flowering plants. Even though PAs have widely documented hepatotoxicity, carcinogenicity, and genotoxicity in humans, livestock and wildlife, the bella moth (Utetheisa ornatrix) has developed unique adaptations to metabolize, sequester and use PAs from its host plant. Studies have shown that larval integument represents the main storage site for PAs in moths, suggesting substantial specialization of the integument for toxin sequestration. However, the molecular mechanisms governing these complex adaptations are not fully understood. In this study, we use a multi-omics approach to elucidate the molecular pathways involved in PA sequestration in Bella moth. We first generated, assembled and annotated a high-quality Bella moth genome using PacBio HiFi as a reference for transcriptomics. The assembled genome has a length of 621Mb with high contiguity (N50 = 19.7Mb) and BUSCO completeness of 98.4%. Our annotation predicted a total of 19,166 genes, showing 98.6% completeness. Following this, we conducted transcriptomics and metabolomics on male and female larvae integument under a PA and PA-devoid diet. Our transcriptomic results show hundreds of genes being differentially expressed involved in pathways such as biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids, metabolism by xenobiotic P450, ABC transporters, drug metabolism, among others. Similarly, metabolomics identified variations in metabolite profiles, with differences in composition and relative abundance of PAs. The insights from this study provide avenues for exploration into this unique model system to better understand the molecular mechanisms that allow them to metabolize PAs without harmful effects.