Helicoverpa armigera is a major pest of agricultural crops, and has been reported to attack more than 200 different species of plants including cotton, pigeonpea, chickpea, groundnut sorghum, maize, vegetables, fruit and forest trees. The lepidopteran larvae essentially are ‘eating machines’, and grow much faster than mammals and birds with a high rate of metabolic processes. This phenomenal growth occurs due to large midgut epithelium, which digests and absorbs the nutrients, and requires the presence of a complete mitochondrial system for oxidative phosphorylation to meet the energy demands of the insect undergoing metamorphosis through different larval instars...
