Protected by Fumigants: Beetle Perfumes in Antimicrobial Defense |
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Authors: | Jürgen Gross Kerstin Schumacher Henrike Schmidtberg Andreas Vilcinskas |
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Affiliation: | (1) Institute of Phytopathology and Applied Zoology, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Heinrich-Buff-Ring 26-32, 35392 Giessen, Germany;(2) Institute for Integrated Plant Protection, Federal Biological Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Stahnsdorfer Damm 81, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany |
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Abstract: | 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. |
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Keywords: | Phratora vitellinae Beauveria bassiana Metarhizium anisopliae Bacillus thuringiensis Fumigants Antimicrobial activity Glandular secretion Salicylaldehyde |
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