Journal
JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL ECOLOGY
Volume 34, Issue 2, Pages 179-188Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10886-007-9416-9
Keywords
Phratora vitellinae; Beauveria bassiana; Metarhizium anisopliae; Bacillus thuringiensis; fumigants; antimicrobial activity; glandular secretion; salicylaldehyde
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Beetles share with other eukaryotes an innate immune system that mediates endogenous defense against pathogens. In addition, larvae of some taxa produce fluid exocrine secretions that contain antimicrobial compounds. In this paper, we provide evidence that larvae of the brassy willow leaf beetle Phratora vitellinae constitutively release volatile glandular secretions that combat pathogens in their microenvironment. We identified salicylaldehyde as the major component of their enveloping perfume cloud, which is emitted by furrow-shaped openings of larval glandular reservoirs and which inhibits in vitro the growth of the bacterial entomopathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. The suggested role of salicylaldehyde as a fumigant in exogenous antimicrobial defense was confirmed in vivo by its removal from glandular reservoirs. This resulted in an enhanced susceptibility of the larvae to infection with the fungal entomopathogens Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae. Consequently, we established the hypothesis that antimicrobial defense in beetles can be expanded beyond innate immunity to include external disinfection of their microenvironment, and we report for the first time the contribution of fumigants to antimicrobial defense in animals.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available