Beetles Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis Kolbe (Coleoptera: Cetoniidae) and Allomyrina dichotoma Linn. (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) are widely used in traditional medicine, and the number of insect-rearing farms is increasing in South Korea. The purpose of this study was to establish a multiplex PCR-based assay for rapid simultaneous detection of multiple pathogens causing insect diseases. Six insect parasites such as fungi Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) and Metarhizium anisopliae (Metschn.) Sorokin (Hypocreales: Clavicipitaceae), bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bacillales: Bacillaceae), Pseudomonas aeruginosa Migula (Pseudomonadales: Pseudomonadaceae), and Serratia marcescens Bizio (Enterobacteriales: Enterobacteriaceae), and Oryctes rhinoceros nudivirus were chosen based on the severity and incidence rate of insect diseases in South Korea. Pathogen-specific primers were designed and successfully applied for simultaneous detection of multiple infectious agents in farm-bred insects P. b. seulensis and A. dichotoma using multiplex PCR and high resolution capillary electrophoresis. Our results indicate that multiplex PCR is an effective and time-saving method for simultaneous detection of multiple infections in insects, and the QIAxcel capillary electrophoresis system is useful for quantitative evaluation of the individual impact of each infectious agent on the severity of insect disease. The approach designed in this study can be utilized for rapid and accurate diagnostics of infection in insect farms.© 2015 The Korean Society of Sericultural Sciences Int. J. Indust. Entomol. 30(2), 64-74 (2015)
IntroductionFollowing a global trend of using natural products from insects, the Korean government has been encouraging the development of insect resources for environmental and dietary purposes, traditional medicine, and as pets (Kim et al., 2013 Vol. 30, No. (1), pp. 64-74 (2015) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is reported as a virulent bacterial pathogen not only for insects but also for mammals (Jander et al., 2000), where it causes infection of the respiratory tract, especially in cystic fibrosis patients (Spiker et al., 2004). Similar to Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia marcescens is known as an opportunistic bacterium (El-Aasar et al., 2013); it is also used to control apple maggot fly population and as a source of insecticidal agents such as toxin luxA (Hejazi and Falkiner, 1997; Lauzon et al., 2003). Oryctes rhinoceros virus Rhabdionvirus oryctes Hüger was first discovered in oil palms in Malaysia 40 years ago and is currently used for the control of rhinoceros beetle population in Malaysia (Huger, 2005;Ramle et al., 2005).We have identified this virus in an A. dichotoma-breeding farm in 2014 in Korea (Lee, 2015).Extensive large-scale insect breeding has resulted in frequent occurrence of insect infection due to multiple pathogens. Here, we developed a multiplex PCR-based approach that allowed simultaneous detection of six insect pathogens using specific primer se...