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31 results for “insect immunity”
Data from: Experimental evolution of insect immune memory versus pathogen resistance
Under strong pathogen pressure, insects often evolve resistance to infection. Many insects are also protected via immune memory ('immune priming'), whereby sub-lethal exposure to a pathogen enhances survival after secondary infection. Theory predicts that immune memory should evolve when the pathogen is highly virulent, or when pathogen exposure is relatively rare. However, there are no empirical tests of these hypotheses, and the adaptive benefits of immune memory relative to direct resistance against a pathogen are poorly understood. To determine the selective pressures and ecological conditions that shape immune evolution, we imposed strong pathogen selection on flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) populations, infecting them with Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) for 11 generations. Populations injected first with heat-killed and then live Bt each generation evolved high basal resistance against multiple Bt strains. In contrast, populations injected only with a high dose of live Bt evolved a less effective but strain-specific priming response. Control populations injected with heat-killed Bt did not evolve priming; and in the ancestor, priming was effective only against a low Bt dose. Intriguingly, one replicate population first evolved priming and subsequently evolved basal resistance, suggesting the potential for dynamic evolution of different immune strategies. Our work is the first report showing that pathogens can select for rapid modulation of insect priming ability, allowing hosts to evolve divergent immune strategies (generalized resistance vs. specific immune memory) with potentially distinct mechanisms.
Silicon and Epichloë-endophyte defences in a model temperate grass diminish feeding efficiency and immunity of an insect folivore
<p>Plants deploy diverse anti-herbivore defences which reduce feeding and performance of herbivores. Temperate grasses use silicon (Si) accumulation and<em> Epichloë</em>-endophytes for physical and chemical (i.e. endophytic-alkaloids) defence against insect herbivores. Recent studies suggest that <em>Epichloë</em>-endophytes increase Si accumulation in their host grass. It is unknown, however, how this affects Si-deposition on the leaf surface, their impacts on insect herbivore feeding efficiency and their immunity to potential infection/parasitism.</p> <p>To address this knowledge gap, we grew tall fescue (<em>Festuca arundinacea</em>) hydroponically with and without Si, in the absence or presence of the novel AR584 <em>Epichloë</em>-strain. We exposed plants to <em>Helicoverpa armigera</em> (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in both in-situ (intact leaves) and ex-situ (excised leaves) feeding trials and determined the effects of Si and endophyte defences on herbivore feeding efficiency, growth rates and immunity against potential infection/parasitism.</p> <p>Endophytic plants supplied with Si showed 110% and 143% increases in leaf silica density and leaf Si concentrations, respectively, when exposed to herbivory, compared to non-endophytic plants that were herbivore-free. Despite the endophyte-mediated increases in Si concentrations, <em>H. armigera</em> was only affected by Si supply; growth rates decreased by 87% and most feeding efficiency indices decreased by at least 30%. Si supply also increased mandibular wear by 16%, which was negatively correlated with <em>H. armigera</em> growth rates. Cellular and humoral immunity of <em>H. armigera</em> were negatively affected by both Si and endophytes. Endophytic-loline alkaloid concentrations were unaffected by Si supply or herbivory, whereas herbivory increased peramine concentrations by 290%. </p> <p>To our knowledge, this is the first report of Si defences and <em>Epichloë</em>-endophyte-derived alkaloids compromising insect immunity <em>via</em> reduced melanisation response. Using tall fescue and <em>H. armigera</em>, our study suggests that deploying both physical (i.e. Si accumulation) and chemical (i.e. endophytic-alkaloids) defences acting against multiple insect herbivore traits, including feeding efficiency, growth and immunity, may be a successful defence strategy in temperate grasses. This multi-faceted defence may be particularly difficult for insect herbivores to overcome.</p>
Defining Skin Immunity of a Bite of Key Insect Vectors in Humans
ClinicalTrials.gov study NCT03641339. IPD Sharing: Not stated. Countries: 1. Publications: 2.
Silicon and Epichloë-endophyte defences in a model temperate grass diminish feeding efficiency and immunity of an insect folivore
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Data from: Experimental evolution of insect immune memory versus pathogen resistance
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Data from: Reprograming of epigenetic mechanisms controlling host insect immunity and development in response to egg-laying by a parasitoid wasp
<p>Parasitoids are insects that use other insects as hosts. They sabotage host cellular and humoral defenses to promote the survival of their offspring by injecting viruses and venoms along with their eggs. Many pathogens and parasites disrupt host epigenetic mechanisms to overcome immune system defenses, and we hypothesized that parasitoids may utilize the same strategy. We used the ichneumon wasp Pimpla turionellae as a model idiobiont parasitoid to test this hypothesis, with pupae of the greater wax moth Galleria mellonella as the host. We found that parasitoid infestation involves the suppression of host immunity-related effector genes and the modulation of host genes involved in developmental hormone signaling. The transcriptional reprogramming of host genes following the injection of parasitoid eggs was associated with changes in host epigenetic mechanisms. The introduction of parasitoids resulted in a transient decrease in host global DNA methylation and the modulation of acetylation ratios for specific histones. Genes encoding regulators of histone acetylation and deacetylation were mostly downregulated in the parasitized pupae, suggesting that parasitoids can suppress host transcription. We also detected a strong parasitoid-specific effect on host microRNAs regulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Our data therefore support the hypothesis that parasitoids may favor the survival of their offspring by interfering with host epigenetic mechanisms to suppress the immune system and disrupt development.</p>
Immune Gene Repertoire of Soft Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae)
<p>Dataset (fasta sequences and alignments) referred to the manuscript "<span>Immune Gene Repertoire of Soft Scale Insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae)"</span></p> <p><strong><span>Abstract: </span></strong><span>Insects possess an effective immune system which has been extensively characterized in several model species, revealing a plethora of conserved genes involved in recognition, signaling and response to pathogens and parasites. However, some taxonomic groups, characterized by peculiar trophic niches, such as plant-sap feeders, which are often important pests of crops and forestry ecosystems, have been largely overlooked regarding their immune gene repertoire. Here we annotated the immune genes of soft scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccidae), for which omics data are publicly available. By using immune genes of aphids and <em>Drosophila</em> to query the genome of <em>Ericerus pela</em>, as well as the transcriptomes of <em>Ceroplastes cirripediformis</em> and <em>Coccus</em> sp., we pointed out the lack of peptidoglycan recognition proteins, galectins, thaumatins and antimicrobial peptides in Coccidae</span><span>. This work contributes to expand our knowledge about the evolutionary trajectories of immune genes and offers a list of promising candidates for developing new control strategies based on the suppression of pests’ immunity through RNAi technologies.</span></p>
Data from: Use of an exotic host plant shifts immunity, chemical defense, and viral burden in wild populations of a specialist insect herbivore
<p>Defense against natural enemies constitutes an important driver of herbivore host range evolution in the wild. Populations of the Baltimore checkerspot butterfly, <em>Euphydryas phaeton </em>(Nymphalidae), have recently incorporated an exotic plant, <em>Plantago lanceolata </em>(Plantaginaceae), into their dietary range. To understand the tritrophic consequences of utilizing this exotic host plant, we examined immune performance, chemical defense, and interactions with a natural entomopathogen (Junonia coenia densovirus, <em>Parvoviridae</em>) across wild populations of this specialist herbivore. We measured three immune parameters, sequestration of defensive iridoid glycosides (IGs), and viral infection load in field-collected caterpillars using either <em>P. lanceolata</em> or a native plant, <em>Chelone glabra </em>(Plantaginaceae). We found that larvae using the exotic plant exhibited reduced immunocompetence, compositional differences in IG sequestration, and higher <em>in situ </em>viral burdens compared to those using the native plant. On both host plants, high IG sequestration was associated with reduced hemocyte concentration in the larval hemolymph, providing the first evidence of incompatibility between sequestered chemical defenses and the immune response (i.e., the "vulnerable host" hypothesis) from a field-based study. However, despite this negative relationship between IG sequestration and cellular immunity, caterpillars with greater sequestration harbored lower viral loads. While survival of virus-infected individuals decreased with increasing viral burden, it ultimately did not differ between the exotic and native plants. These results provide evidence that (1) phytochemical sequestration may contribute to defense against pathogens even when immunity is compromised, and (2) herbivore persistence on exotic plant species may be facilitated by sequestration and its role in defense against natural enemies.</p>
Data from: Seasonal shifts in the insect gut microbiome are concurrent with changes in cold tolerance and immunity
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Data from: Reprograming of epigenetic mechanisms controlling host insect immunity and development in response to egg-laying by a parasitoid wasp
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Data from: Use of an exotic host plant shifts immunity, chemical defense, and viral burden in wild populations of a specialist insect herbivore
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Data from: Immune priming specificity within and across generations reveals the range of pathogens affecting evolution of immunity in an insect
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Evolution of an insect immune barrier through horizontal gene transfer mediated by a parasitic wasp
<p>Numerical data that underlies tables and graphs (figures 1-7, 9, 10; table 1) and statistics of the PLOS Genetics article from Di Lelio et al., 2019.</p>
Data from: Feces production as a form of social immunity in an insect with facultative maternal care
Background: Social animals have the unique capability of mounting social defenses against pathogens. Over the last decades, social immunity has been extensively studied in species with obligatory and permanent forms of social life. However, its occurrence in less derived social systems and thus its role in the early evolution of group-living remains unclear. Here, we investigated whether lining nests with feces is a form of social immunity against microbial growth in the European earwig Forficula auricularia, an insect with temporary family life and facultative maternal care. Results: Using a total of 415 inhibition zone assays, we showed that earwig feces inhibit the growth of two GRAM+ bacteria, two fungi, but not of a GRAM- bacteria. These inhibitions did not result from the consumed food or the nesting environment. We then demonstrated that the antimicrobial activity against fungus was higher in offspring than maternal feces, but that this difference was absent against bacteria. Finally, we showed that family interactions inhibited the antibacterial activity of maternal frass against one of the two GRAM+ bacteria, whereas they had no effect on the one of nymphal frass. By contrast, antifungal activities of the frass were independent of mother-offspring interactions. Conclusion: These results demonstrate that social immunity occurs in a species with simple and facultative social life, and thus shed light on the general importance of this process in the evolution of group-living. These results also emphasize that defecation can be under selection for other life-history traits than simple waste disposal.
Data from: Reduced cellular immune response in social insect lineages
Social living poses challenges for individual fitness because of the increased risk of disease transmission among conspecifics. Despite this challenge, sociality is an evolutionarily successful lifestyle, occurring in the most abundant and diverse group of organisms on earth—the social insects. Two contrasting hypotheses predict the evolutionary consequences of sociality on immune systems. The social group hypothesis posits that sociality leads to stronger individual immune systems because of the higher risk of disease transmission in social species. By contrast, the relaxed selection hypothesis proposes that social species have evolved behavioural immune defences that lower disease risk within the group, resulting in lower immunity at the individual level. We tested these hypotheses by measuring the encapsulation response in 11 eusocial and non-eusocial insect lineages. We built phylogenetic mixed linear models to investigate the effect of behaviour, colony size and body size on cellular immune response. We found a significantly negative effect of colony size on encapsulation response (Markov chain Monte Carlo generalized linear mixed model (mcmcGLMM) p < 0.05; phylogenetic generalized least squares (PGLS) p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that insects living in large societies may rely more on behavioural mechanisms, such as hygienic behaviours, than on immune function to reduce the risk of disease transmission among nest-mates.
Data from: Age, pathogen exposure, but not maternal care shape offspring immunity in an insect with facultative family life
Background: To optimize their resistance against pathogen infection, individuals are expected to find the right balance between investing into the immune system and other life history traits. In vertebrates, several factors were shown to critically affect the direction of this balance, such as the developmental stage of an individual, its current risk of infection and/or its access to external help such as parental care. However, the independent and/or interactive effects of these factors on immunity remain poorly studied in insects. Results: Here, we manipulated maternal presence and pathogen exposure in families of the European earwig Forficula auricularia to measure whether and how the survival rate and investment into two key immune parameters changed during offspring development. The pathogen was the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum and the immune parameters were hemocyte concentration and phenol/pro-phenoloxidase enzyme activity (total-PO). Our results surprisingly showed that maternal presence had no effect on offspring immunity, but reduced offspring survival. Pathogen exposure also lowered the survival of offspring during their early development. The concentration of hemocytes and the total-PO activity increased during development, to be eventually higher in adult females compared to adult males. Finally, pathogen exposure overall increased the concentration of hemocytes—but not the total-PO activity—in adults, while it had no effect on these measures in offspring. Conclusions: Our results show that, independent of their infection risk and developmental stage, maternal presence does not shape immune defense in young earwigs. This reveals that pathogen pressure is not a universal evolutionary driver of the emergence and maintenance of post-hatching maternal care in insects.
Data from: Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1: testing for a role in insect immunity, behaviour and reproduction
Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1 (Dscam1) has wide-reaching and vital neuronal functions although the role it plays in insect and crustacean immunity is less well understood. In this study, we combine different approaches to understand the roles that Dscam1 plays in fitness-related contexts in two model insect species. Contrary to our expectations, we found no short-term modulation of Dscam1 gene expression after haemocoelic or oral bacterial exposure in Tribolium castaneum, or after haemocoelic bacterial exposure in Drosophila melanogaster. Furthermore, RNAi-mediated Dscam1 knockdown and subsequent bacterial exposure did not reduce T. castaneum survival. However, Dscam1 knockdown in larvae resulted in adult locomotion defects, as well as dramatically reduced fecundity in males and females. We suggest that Dscam1 does not always play a straightforward role in immunity, but strongly influences behaviour and fecundity. This study takes a step towards understanding more about the role of this intriguing gene from different phenotypic perspectives.
Data from: Dietary protein and carbohydrates affect immune function and performance in a specialist herbivore insect (Manduca sexta)
Nutrition structures ecology and evolution across all scales of biological organization. It is well known that nutrition can have direct effects on performance and fitness, but indirect effects on physiological systems that mediate biotic interactions have been studied less frequently. Here, we focus on the interaction between nutrition, performance, and the immune system in a specialist herbivorous insect, Manduca sexta. We used a conceptual framework in nutritional ecology (the geometric framework) to examine how changes in diet quality affect aspects of the immune system used for defense against parasitoids. We raised caterpillars throughout their entire larval development on five different experimental diets that varied in protein and carbohydrate content and measured five aspects of the immune system: encapsulation, phenoloxidase activity, prophenoloxidase activity, total hemolymph protein, and hemocyte density. Overall, different parts of the immune function varied in response to interactions between carbohydrates, protein, and intake, but protein reductions had the largest impacts—mostly detrimental. In addition, our data suggest that diet quality mediates the relationship between performance (growth and survival) and immune function, as well as trade-offs among different components of immune function. Our work is the first to examine the interplay between nutrition, performance, and immune function with the geometric framework in a specialist insect herbivore.
Data from: Down syndrome cell adhesion molecule 1: testing for a role in insect immunity, behaviour and reproduction
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Data from: Evolution of an insect immune barrier through horizontal gene transfer mediated by a parasitic wasp
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