# Insect Peroxiredoxins: A Comprehensive Review of Their Classification, Distribution, Structural Features, Expression Profiles and Physiological Functions

**Authors:** Li Yang, Shaohua Lu, Yujie Lu, Mingshun Chen, Sufen Cui

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/insects16070678 · 2025-06-28

## TL;DR

This paper reviews insect peroxiredoxins, enzymes that help combat oxidative stress and play roles in development, immunity, and pest resistance.

## Contribution

The paper provides the first systematic review of peroxiredoxin expression and functions across insect tissues, stages, and sexes.

## Key findings

- Peroxiredoxins are crucial for antioxidant defense, development, and stress adaptation in insects.
- Expression of Prxs varies across tissues, developmental stages, and sexes in insects.
- Prxs are linked to immune response and insecticide resistance in various insect species.

## Abstract

Peroxiredoxins (Prxs), initially identified in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, are a superfamily of cysteine-dependent peroxidases that play a crucial role in the defense against oxidative stress in various organisms, including insects. Prxs protect cells from oxidative damage by neutralizing reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are byproducts of normal cellular metabolism. Prxs have been found to be widely expressed in various developmental stages and tissues of insects, suggesting that Prxs perform different physiological functions. This review summarizes the nomenclature, structure, classification, expression profiles and physiological functions of Prxs in insects. This comprehensive understanding of Prxs in insects not only aids in the development of new pest management strategies, but also contributes to a broader understanding of insect biology and ecology.

With the development of technology, an increasing amount of literature regarding the expression profiles and physiological functions of Prxs has been published. Despite this growing interest, there is currently no systematic review of expression profiles in different insects. Here, we performed a systematic review of the available literature on the location and expression of Prxs in different tissues, developmental stages and sexes in insects. Recent studies on the structure, expression profiles and functional characterization of Prxs provide valuable insights into the molecular mechanisms and functional pathways of this important enzyme family. In insects, Prxs are crucial for antioxidant defense, development, stress adaptation, cell apoptosis, immune response and insecticide resistance. This systematic review provides an overview of the various functions of Prxs as reported in the literature and highlights that many environmental stresses induce changes in Prxs expression levels. Furthermore, we present perspectives on future research directions regarding insect Prxs and discuss their potential applications in pest control.

## Linked entities

- **Proteins:** prx.S (periaxin S homeolog)
- **Species:** Saccharomyces cerevisiae (taxon 4932)

## Full-text entities

- **Genes:** bsk (basket) [NCBI Gene 44801] {aka Basket, CG5680, D-JNK, D-junk, DBSK/JNK, DJNK}, Prx6b (Peroxiredoxin 6b) [NCBI Gene 246663] {aka 1-cys peroxiredoxin DPx- 2540-1, BEST:LD11278, CG12405, DPx-2540-1, DPx2540, Dmel\CG12405}, Pxd (Peroxidase) [NCBI Gene 2768671] {aka CG3477, DmPO, Dmel\CG3477, Dpxd, HPX1, PO}, Prx6a (Peroxiredoxin 6a) [NCBI Gene 33493] {aka 153181_at, CG3083, DPx-6005, DPx6005, Dmel\CG3083, GM04269p}, Prx4 (Peroxiredoxin 4) [NCBI Gene 53577] {aka 1274, CG1274, DPx-4156, DPx4156, Dmel\CG1274, JafRac2}, trx (trithorax) [NCBI Gene 41737] {aka 4720, 4733, CG8651, DMTRXIII, Dmel\CG8651, NR0A5}, CG8993 (uncharacterized protein) [NCBI Gene 38301] {aka 8993, Dmel\CG8993}, foxo (forkhead box, sub-group O) [NCBI Gene 41709] {aka 3143, Afx, Akh, CG3143, DFOXO, DfoxO}, Prx2 (Peroxiredoxin 2) [NCBI Gene 53578] {aka 1633, CG1633, DPx-4783, DPx4783, DmTPx-1, Dmel\CG1633}, Prx3 (Peroxiredoxin 3) [NCBI Gene 42109] {aka CG5826, DPx-5037, DPx5037, Dmel\CG5826, Prx5037, dPRDX3}
- **Diseases:** gut infection (MESH:D007239), toxicity (MESH:D064420), development retardation (MESH:D002658), pupal deformity (MESH:D009140), malaria parasite infection (MESH:D010272), injury to (MESH:D014947), Friedreich's ataxia (MESH:D005621), microbial infections (MESH:D015163), greening disease (OMIM:614156)
- **Chemicals:** Pyridalyl (MESH:C418569), RNS (MESH:D026361), imidacloprid (MESH:C082359), Peroxide (MESH:D010545), thiol (MESH:D013438), cysteine sulfenic acid (MESH:C100870), Sulfenic acid (MESH:D013434), superoxide (MESH:D013481), 2-Cys Prxs (-), H2O2 (MESH:D006861), disulfide (MESH:D004220), cadmium (MESH:D002104), hydrogen (MESH:D006859), alcohol (MESH:D000438), ecdysone (MESH:D004440), ROS (MESH:D017382), paraquat (MESH:D010269), peroxynitrite (MESH:D030421), GSH (MESH:D005978), nitroxyl (MESH:C039900), OH (MESH:C031356), Cys (MESH:D003545), lipid (MESH:D008055), RS (MESH:D000084922), spinetoram (MESH:C548262), singlet oxygen (MESH:D026082), metal (MESH:D008670), metaflumizone (MESH:C528570), oxygen (MESH:D010100), indoxacarb (MESH:C401104), copper (MESH:D003300), ascorbate (MESH:D001205), DTT (MESH:D004229), phoxim (MESH:C003135), hydroxyl radical (MESH:D017665), NO (MESH:D009569), H2O (MESH:D014867), Chlorantraniliprole (MESH:C517733)
- **Species:** Antheraea pernyi (Chinese oak silkmoth, species) [taxon 7119], Spodoptera litura (species) [taxon 69820], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606], Apis cerana (Asiatic honeybee, species) [taxon 7461], Glossina morsitans morsitans (subspecies) [taxon 37546], Anopheles stephensi (Asian malaria mosquito, species) [taxon 30069], Bombyx mori (domestic silkworm, species) [taxon 7091], Diptera (flies, order) [taxon 7147], Plodia interpunctella (Indian meal moth, species) [taxon 58824], Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly, species) [taxon 7227], Leishmania donovani (species) [taxon 5661], Apis mellifera (bee, species) [taxon 7460], Gryllotalpa orientalis (oriental mole cricket, species) [taxon 213494], Grapholita molesta (oriental fruit moth, species) [taxon 192188], Nilaparvata lugens (brown planthopper, species) [taxon 108931], Helicoverpa armigera (American bollworm, species) [taxon 29058], Locusta migratoria (migratory locust, species) [taxon 7004], Cimex lectularius (bed bug, species) [taxon 79782], Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (species) [taxon 34021], Callosobruchus maculatus (cowpea weevil, species) [taxon 64391], Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast, species) [taxon 4932], Aedes aegypti (yellow fever mosquito, species) [taxon 7159], Brugia malayi (agent of lymphatic filariasis, species) [taxon 6279], Chilo suppressalis (Asiatic rice borer, species) [taxon 168631], Diaphorina citri (Asian citrus psyllid, species) [taxon 121845], Melanogaster (genus) [taxon 80614], Helicoverpa armigera SNPV (no rank) [taxon 991878], Schistosoma mansoni (species) [taxon 6183]
- **Cell lines:** Sf21 — Spodoptera frugiperda (Fall armyworm), Spontaneously immortalized cell line (CVCL_0518), S2 — Drosophila melanogaster (Fruit fly), Spontaneously immortalized cell line (CVCL_Z232)

## Figures

1 figure with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12295943/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12295943