甲脒类杀虫剂如双甲脒等是一类重要的杀虫杀螨农药，用于防治蚜虫、粉虱、螟虫等半翅目和鳞翅目的害虫，但对果蝇和蜜蜂等非靶标昆虫没有毒性。生理学研究揭示了此类杀虫剂特异性地作用于害虫的章鱼胺受体，但随着分子生物学的发展，人们发现在昆虫基因组中存在3个家族共5种章鱼胺受体基因，各自的下游信号通路也不同，那么到底哪一个或者哪几个是甲脒类杀虫剂的主要靶标，或者说哪些受体的激活才导致了害虫的致死效应，这些问题还不清楚。本研究通过对比甲脒类杀虫剂对靶标（二化螟、豌豆蚜）和非靶标昆虫（果蝇、蜜蜂）的不同章鱼胺受体的活性差异，从而发现可能的靶标受体，并进一步通过RNAi和转基因果蝇在体内验证。该研究不仅可以明确甲脒类杀虫剂作用的精确分子靶点，解释其对不同昆虫的选择性毒力作用的机制，也同时为抗性检测提供了分子标记，为高通量筛选特异性地针对章鱼胺受体的杀虫剂提供了靶标受体细胞系。

Formamidine insecticides such as amitraz are one important group of pesticides used to control aphids, white flies, borers and other Hemiptera and Lepidoptera pests, but are not toxic to non-target insects such as fruit flies and honey bees. Physiological studies revealed that formamidines specifically act on octopamine receptors of pests. However, with the development of molecular biology, it is found that there are three classes of octopamine receptors with total five genes in insect genomes and different kinds of receptors have distinct downstream signaling pathways. Therefore, which receptor is the major target for formamidine insecticides in vivo? Here we will compare the activities of formamidines on different octopamine receptors from target (rice stem borer, pea aphid) and not-target insects (fruit flies and honey bees) to find the potential target receptor. Then we can further validate the candidate receptor(s) in vivo by RNAi or fly genetics. This research will find the precise molecular target of formamidine insecticides as well as the mechanism of selective toxicity to different insects. Moreover, it will also provide molecular markers for resistance monitoring and target-receptor cells lines for high-throughput screening to develop specific insecticides acting on octopamine receptors.