engleski

Microbiota - a potential symbiont and the chemical secretion profile of different Tribolium castaneum lines

The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum is more and more becoming a model organism, not only in developmental biology, but also in evolutionary biology and ecological immunity. For the latter it has been shown that in addition to the traditional insect immune defence, adults secrete antimicrobially active substances into the environment, which serve as an external immune defence. Traditionally, most of this research is conducted on the fully sequenced beetle line GA2 as well as on SB, while within this SPP research mainly focused on Cro1. Lines differ in their origin as well as time since being collected. Here we are asking if four beetle lines (GA2, SB, Cro1, GF2) differ in their profile of external immune defence, so as if they could fend off different ranges of parasites and/or control their own microbiota, including potential symbionts. Applying GC-MS, NGS and FISH, we were able to show that these lines indeed differ in the profile of their external secretion, as well as in the composition of their microbiota, with overall GA2 and SB differing from Cro1 and GF2. Furthermore, we found Spiroplasma only in GF2, but could transfer it to GA2 and by such reduce mortality upon Bacillus thuringiensis (Btt) infection.

microbiota, symbiont, chemical secretion, Tribolium castaneum

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