<i>Natsumushi</i>: Image measuring software for entomological studies

Tanahashi, Masahiko; Fukatsu, Takema

doi:10.1111/ens.12315

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Photographs were taken with a Zeiss StereoDiscovery V8 dissection stereoscope (Zeiss, Germany) under identical conditions using ZENCore software (Zeiss, Germany). Average red values were measured within a circular area covering the thorax with Natsumushi 120 and transformed into inverse red values 16 , 42 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis

et al. 2021

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Glyphosate is widely used as a herbicide, but recent studies begin to reveal its detrimental side effects on animals by targeting the shikimate pathway of associated gut microorganisms. However, its impact on nutritional endosymbionts in insects remains poorly understood. Here, we sequenced the tiny, shikimate pathway encoding symbiont genome of the sawtoothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis. Decreased titers of the aromatic amino acid tyrosine in symbiont-depleted beetles underscore the symbionts’ ability to synthesize prephenate as the precursor for host tyrosine synthesis and its importance for cuticle sclerotization and melanization. Glyphosate exposure inhibited symbiont establishment during host development and abolished the mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in adults, which could be partially rescued by dietary tyrosine supplementation. Furthermore, phylogenetic analyses indicate that the shikimate pathways of many nutritional endosymbionts likewise contain a glyphosate sensitive 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. These findings highlight the importance of symbiont-mediated tyrosine supplementation for cuticle biosynthesis in insects, but also paint an alarming scenario regarding the use of glyphosate in light of recent declines in insect populations.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis

et al. 2021

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“…Briefly, 9–12 beetles from each treatment per age group (day) were anaesthetised by being chilled on ice, photographed with an RGB colour camera (Axiocam 208, Zeiss, Jena, Germany) mounted to a StereoDiscovery V.8 dissection scope (Zeiss) and fitted with a constant intensity light source (SLIM-LED S40-75, Schott, Germany) under identical software parameters. The software Natsumushi ( Tanahashi and Fukatsu, 2018 ) was used to measure average red values in a defined circular area of the thorax. After being photographed, 6–9 beetles from each treatment per age group were fixed in phosphate-buffered 4% formaldehyde (Carl Roth, Karlsruhe, Germany), dehydrated and then embedded with Technovit ® 8100 (Kulzer, Germany).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional symbionts enhance structural defence against predation and fungal infection in a grain pest beetle

Kanyile

Engl

Kaltenpoth

2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Many insects benefit from bacterial symbionts that provide essential nutrients and thereby extend the hosts’ adaptive potential and their ability to cope with challenging environments. However, the implications of nutritional symbioses for the hosts’ defence against natural enemies remain largely unstudied. Here, we investigated if the cuticle-enhancing nutritional symbiosis of the saw-toothed grain beetle Oryzaephilus surinamensis confers protection against predation and fungal infection. We exposed age-defined symbiotic and symbiont-depleted (aposymbiotic) beetles to two antagonists that must actively penetrate the cuticle for a successful attack: wolf spiders (Lycosidae) and the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana. While young beetles suffered from high predation and fungal infection rates regardless of symbiont presence, symbiotic beetles were able to escape this period of vulnerability and reach high survival probabilities significantly faster than aposymbiotic beetles. To understand the mechanistic basis underlying these differences, we conducted a time-series analysis of cuticle development in symbiotic and aposymbiotic beetles by measuring cuticular melanisation and thickness. The results reveal that the symbionts accelerate their host's cuticle formation and thereby enable it to quickly reach a cuticle quality threshold that confers structural protection against predation and fungal infection. Considering the widespread occurrence of cuticle enhancement via symbiont-mediated tyrosine supplementation in beetles and other insects, our findings demonstrate how nutritional symbioses can have important ecological implications reaching beyond the immediate nutrient provisioning benefits.

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“…The insects were reared to monitor their adult emergence for 42 days after hatching. The dorsal images of the adults were taken with an image scanner GT-X830 (Epson, Japan), and the hue angle of the scutellum and thorax width were measured and analyzed using the software Natsumushi (34). P. stali harboring the original symbiont Pantoea sp.…”

Section: Fluorescence In Situ Hybridizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single mutation makes Escherichia coli an insect mutualist

Koga

Moriyama

Onodera-Tanifuji

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We report an experimental system in which Escherichia coli evolves into an insect mutualist. When the essential gut symbiont of the stinkbug Plautia stali was replaced by E. coli, a few survivor insects exhibited specific localization and vertical transmission of E. coli. Through trans-generational maintenance with P. stali, several hyper-mutating E. coli lines independently evolved host's high adult emergence and improved body color. Such "mutualistic" E. coli lines exhibited independent mutations disrupting the carbon catabolite repression (CCR) global transcriptional regulator. Each of the mutations reproduced the mutualistic phenotypes when introduced into wild-type E. coli, confirming that the single CCR mutations instantly make E. coli an insect mutualist. Our discovery uncovers that evolution of elaborate mutualism can proceed more easily and rapidly than conventionally envisaged.

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Natsumushi: Image measuring software for entomological studies

Cited by 19 publications

References 19 publications

Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis

Inhibition of a nutritional endosymbiont by glyphosate abolishes mutualistic benefit on cuticle synthesis in Oryzaephilus surinamensis

Nutritional symbionts enhance structural defence against predation and fungal infection in a grain pest beetle

Single mutation makes Escherichia coli an insect mutualist

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