Sulforaphane, A Mustard Oil Bomb Product, Reprograms Herbivore Gene Expression and Alters Chromatin Structure Across Generations
- 1Dickinson College, Department of Biology, Carlisle, PA 17013 USA
Abstract
Sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate produced by the mustard oil bomb defense system of cruciferous plants, is a natural inhibitor of class I and II histone deacetylases (HDACs). We previously showed that dietary SFN inhibits HDAC activity, delays larval development, and alters the expression of more than 1,600 genes in the agricultural pests Spodoptera exigua and Trichoplusia ni. Here we investigated the mechanisms underlying these responses and whether their effects extend across generations. RNA-seq analyses revealed that SFN rapidly disrupted the normal developmental progression of gene expression in both somatic and germline tissues. ATAC-seq analyses indicated that these transcriptional changes in S. exigua were accompanied by widespread alterations in chromatin accessibility. In this species, we detected the suppression of genes involved in energy metabolism, consistent with the observed developmental delays. We observed that many SFN-induced changes in chromatin accessibility and gene expression persisted in the offspring of exposed insects despite the offspring never consuming SFN themselves. These findings demonstrate that SFN acts through chromatin-associated mechanisms to alter transcriptional programs during development, with intergenerational effects. We propose that SFN, and perhaps other HDAC inhibitors produced by plants in nature, may act as an “epigenetic weapon” with the potential to influence herbivore gene expression across generations.
Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x.
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BibTeX
@article{arnold2026sulforaphane,
title = {{Sulforaphane, A Mustard Oil Bomb Product, Reprograms Herbivore Gene Expression and Alters Chromatin Structure Across Generations}},
author = {Thomas M. Arnold and Dana J. Somers and David B. Kushner and Marisa Arreola and Whitney Finney and Ashley Groff and Annika Haagensen and Mel Morales and Charlie Kim and Emi Ayala-Sekiguchi and Mason Arnold},
journal = {Journal of Chemical Ecology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Sulforaphane, A Mustard Oil Bomb Product, Reprograms Herbivore Gene Expression and Alters Chromatin Structure Across Generations
AU - Thomas M. Arnold
AU - Dana J. Somers
AU - David B. Kushner
AU - Marisa Arreola
AU - Whitney Finney
AU - Ashley Groff
AU - Annika Haagensen
AU - Mel Morales
AU - Charlie Kim
AU - Emi Ayala-Sekiguchi
AU - Mason Arnold
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Journal of Chemical Ecology
DO - 10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x
UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x
AB - Sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate produced by the mustard oil bomb defense system of cruciferous plants, is a natural inhibitor of class I and II histone deacetylases (HDACs). We previously showed that dietary SFN inhibits HDAC activity, delays larval development, and alters the expression of more than 1,600 genes in the agricultural pests Spodoptera exigua and Trichoplusia ni. Here we investigated the mechanisms underlying these responses and whether their effects extend across generations. RNA-seq analyses revealed that SFN rapidly disrupted the normal developmental progression of gene expression in both somatic and germline tissues. ATAC-seq analyses indicated that these transcriptional changes in S. exigua were accompanied by widespread alterations in chromatin accessibility. In this species, we detected the suppression of genes involved in energy metabolism, consistent with the observed developmental delays. We observed that many SFN-induced changes in chromatin accessibility and gene expression persisted in the offspring of exposed insects despite the offspring never consuming SFN themselves. These findings demonstrate that SFN acts through chromatin-associated mechanisms to alter transcriptional programs during development, with intergenerational effects. We propose that SFN, and perhaps other HDAC inhibitors produced by plants in nature, may act as an “epigenetic weapon” with the potential to influence herbivore gene expression across generations. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-026-01771-x.
SN - 0098-0331
SN - 1573-1561
ER -