An artificial diet containing plant pollen for the mealybug predator <i>Cryptolaemus montrouzieri</i>

Xie, Jiaqin; Wu, Hongsheng; Pang, Hong; Clercq, Patrick De

doi:10.1002/ps.4309

Cited by 15 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…The nutritional composition of food is a key factor that influences the development and reproduction of insect species (Bonte et al, 2010). An assessment of predator insect survival and reproductive performance indicates whether an artificial diet has potential for use in the mass rearing of the insect (Xie et al, 2017). Previous studies showed that adult reproductive performance was unfavorably affected by restricted food supply during the larval stages (Xie et al, 2015a, b).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for Nutritional Fitness Traits in a Biological Pest Control Agent Harmonia axyridis Using Comparative Transcriptomics

Zhang

Zeng

et al. 2019

Front. Physiol.

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Harmonia axyridis is an important natural predator used in the biological control of insect pests. Vitellogenin (Vg) supplementation to artificial diet can improve fecundity of H. axyridis, however, the effects of Vg on physiology of H. axyridis at the molecular level is unclear. This study investigated the effects of Vg on the physiology (digestive enzyme activities) and transcriptome patterns by feeding H. axyridis adults with treatment (artificial diet with Vg supplement) and control (artificial diet supplemented with bovine serum albumin (BSA). The transcriptome sequencing yielded 43.94 Gb of clean data, and 3,946 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) – including 93 upregulated and 3,853 downregulated genes between the treatment and control. Six DEGs related to development and digestive enzyme were chosen for quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) to validate the accuracy of the RNA-seq results and confirmed that the transcriptome analysis yielded reliable results. The Vg supplement has increased activities of digestive enzymes and related genes expression in H. axyridis. The transcript level of digestive enzyme genes (apolipoprotein D and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase) were much higher in adults fed on diet supplemented with Vg compared with that of the control.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Search for Nutritional Fitness Traits in a Biological Pest Control Agent Harmonia axyridis Using Comparative Transcriptomics

Zhang

Zeng

et al. 2019

Front. Physiol.

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“…This predatory ladybird beetle is native to Australia and has been introduced to at least 64 countries or regions for classical or augmentative biological control purposes since 1891 [12]. The success of C. montrouzieri can be attributed to its e cient predation of mealybug pests and easy mass rearing [12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Whereas mealybugs produce wax secretions to protect themselves from a range of natural enemies, these wax secretions act as an attractant and oviposition stimulant for C. montrouzieri [12], indicating ladybird-mealybug specialization. Under laboratory and mass rearing conditions, C. montrouzieri can also feed on other Sternorrhyncha species (e.g., white ies, aphids and other coccids), lepidopteran eggs and even arti cial diets [14][15][16][17]. Some of these alternative diets can support the complete life cycle of the ladybird (provided that an arti cial oviposition substrate is supplied) but will to some extent decrease tness of the predators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic insight into diet adaptation in the biological control agent Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

Huang

Chen

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background The ladybird beetle Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera, Coccinellidae) is used worldwide as a biological control agent. It is a predator of various mealybug pests, but it also feeds on alternative prey and can be reared on artificial diets. Relatively little is known about the underlying genetic adaptations of its feeding habits. Results We report the first high-quality genome sequence for C. montrouzieri. We found that the gene families encoding chemosensors and digestive and detoxifying enzymes among others were significantly expanded or contracted in this ladybird in comparison to other beetles. Diet-specific larval transcriptome profiling demonstrated that differentially expressed genes on unnatural diet as compared to natural prey were enriched in pathways of nutrient metabolism, indicating that the lower performance on the tested diets was caused by nutritional deficiencies. Remarkably, the C. montrouzieri genome also showed a significant expansion in an immune effector gene family. Some of the immune effector genes were dramatically downregulated when larvae were fed unnatural diets. Conclusion We suggest that the evolution of genes related to chemosensing, digestion, and detoxification but also immunity might be associated with diet adaptation of an insect predator. These findings help explain why this predatory ladybird has become a successful biological control agent and will enable the optimization of its mass rearing and use in biological control programs.

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“…Among coccinellids, beneficial predators in biocontrol programs [ 7 , 8 , 9 ], the different species are protected by an array of chemical, behavioural, and/or morphological defense mechanisms evolved against predation and parasitism [ 10 , 11 ]. Reflex bleeding is an example of a chemical defense in which coccinellid larvae and adults emit distasteful and toxic droplets of hemolymph [ 12 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Costs and Benefits of Wax Production in the Larvae of the Ladybeetle Scymnus nubilus

Pacheco

Borges

Branco

et al. 2021

Insects

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BACKGROUND: Larvae of the minute aphidophagous Scymnus nubilus Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) are common predators in apple orchards, covered by a wax layer that might act as a defense mechanism against natural enemies. However, the costs and benefits of protection conferred by wax remain to be assessed. We tested the following hypothesis: there is a trade-off in wax producing ladybeetles between the protection conferred by wax cover and the physiological or behavioral costs associated with its production. We predict that: (1) wax production is an efficient defensive mechanism (against intraguild predation), (2) wax production is associated with detrimental physiological (growth, reproduction) or behavioral effects (behavioral compensation: increased biomass consumption). RESULTS: Tests were carried out in the laboratory with wax and waxless larvae of S. nubilus, with and without lacewing larvae of Chrysoperla agilis (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) being used as a potential intraguild predator of the coccinellid. Waxless individuals were more susceptible to intraguild predation by lacewing larvae. Adults originating from waxless larvae were lighter than the ones originating from wax larvae, suggesting a metabolic cost resulting from a constant need of wax production. Body-weight gain and conversion efficiency were lower in waxless larvae. Biomass consumption was similar, showing that waxless larvae did not compensate for the physiological cost by eating more aphid biomass. CONCLUSION: The results indicate the potential existence of a trade-off between growth and protection associated with wax production.

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An artificial diet containing plant pollen for the mealybug predator Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

Cited by 15 publications

References 35 publications

Search for Nutritional Fitness Traits in a Biological Pest Control Agent Harmonia axyridis Using Comparative Transcriptomics

Search for Nutritional Fitness Traits in a Biological Pest Control Agent Harmonia axyridis Using Comparative Transcriptomics

Genomic insight into diet adaptation in the biological control agent Cryptolaemus montrouzieri

Costs and Benefits of Wax Production in the Larvae of the Ladybeetle Scymnus nubilus

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