Abstract:  【Aim】 The potential biomarkers of pebrine disease of the Chinese oak silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, are to be identified in this study, so as to lay a foundation for the development of detection methods of the disease and the study of the differences and functions of metabolites of A. pernyi infected by Nosema pernyi. 【Methods】 The differences of metabolites in the haemolymph between healthy and pebrine-infected female adults of A. pernyi were assayed via non-targeted metabolomics analysis by means of high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and high resolution mass spectrometer (MS). 【Results】 Tested in the positive ion model, 8 870 metabolites were identified from the haemolymph of healthy and pebrineinfected female adults of A. pernyi and 5 390 metabolites were annotated. In response to the infection of N. pernyi, 472 differentially expressed metabolites were screened, including 260 up-regulated and 212 down-regulated. Furthermore, 12 differentially expressed metabolites were secondarily identified, including 8 up-regulated and 4 down-regulated. Tested in the negative ion model, 6 716 metabolites were identified, and 3 848 metabolites were then annotated. In total, 301 differentially expressed metabolites were identified including 207 up-regulated and 94 downregulated. Furthermore, 9 differentially expressed metabolites were secondarily identified including 8 up-regulated and 1 down-regulated. Moreover, differentially expressed metabolites secondarily identified in the positive ion model included valine, benzothiazole, 3dehydroxycarnitine, 1-methylguanine, 2-ethoxynaphthalene, N6-acetyl-L-lysine, biotin, morin, timolol, acylcarnitine 15∶0, acylcarnitine 18∶4 and isoquercitrin, and those in the negative ion model included dimethylmalonic acid, glutaric acid, 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid, 1,3-diacetylpropane, DL-p-hydroxyphenyllactic acid, pantothenate, fluorescein, delphinidin-3-O-beta-glucopyranoside and lysoPI 16∶1. 【Conclusion】 There are significant differences in the metabolites of haemolymph collected from healthy and pebrine-infected female adults of A. pernyi. Twenty-one differentially expressed metabolites secondarily identified have been mined by metabolomics, and these metabolites can be used as potential biomarkers for developing the detection methods for pebrine disease in A. pernyi.

Key words: Antheraea pernyi, pebrine disease, haemolymph, metabolomics, metabolites, biomarker