Naslov
Specificity of oral immune priming in Tribolium castaneum

Autori
Sell, Pauline ; Futo, Momir ; Kutzer, Megan ; Kurtz, Joachim

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
109th Annual Meeting of the German Zoological Society

Mjesto i datum
Kiel, Njemačka, 14.09.2016. - 17.09.2016

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Podatak o recenziji nije dostupan

Ključne riječi
immune memory, Bacillus thuringiensis, Tribolium castaneum

Sažetak
Introduction: In many invertebrate species, enhanced survival of infection has been observed after prior exposure to the same pathogen ('immune priming'). In insects, oral infection is assumed to be the natural route of infection with the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis. The major virulence factors of B. thuringiensis are the plasmid-encoded Cry toxins that are toxic upon ingestion and characterised by high insecticidal specificity. Objectives: While priming via septic wounding in the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum shows a high level of specificity, it is unclear whether the same phenomenon can also be observed via oral immune priming. Thus, we investigated in our study whether T. castaneum is able to mount an immune priming response to three different strains of B. thuringiensis that are known for their entomopathogenic activity. Materials and Methods: We conducted a full factorial experiment by using our well-established high throughput method for oral infections of individualised larvae. Results: We demonstrate that immune priming can be triggered by oral uptake of the spore supernatant in two of the three bacterial strains. Furthermore, the results point to a certain level of specificity towards two of the strains. Conclusions: We are currently exploring whether the priming response to the third strain might be dependent on the spore dose. However, our results suggest that specificity towards B. thuringiensis is also present in oral priming.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Biologija

POVEZANOST RADA