Identification of immunological expressed sequence tags in the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor

One contribution of 13 to a theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of arthropod antimicrobial peptides'. Insects show long-lasting antimicrobial immune responses that follow the initial fast-acting cellular processes. These immune responses are discussed to provide a form of phrophylaxis and/or to serve as a safety measure against persisting infections. The duration and components of such longlasting responses have rarely been studied in detail, a necessary prerequisite to understand their adaptive value. Here, we present a 21 day proteomic time course of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor immune-challenged with heat-killed Staphylococcus aureus. The most upregulated peptides are antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), many of which are still highly abundant 21 days after infection. The identified AMPs included toll and imd-mediated AMPs, a significant number of which have no known function against S. aureus or other Gram-positive bacteria. The proteome reflects the selective arena for bacterial infections. The results also corroborate the notion of synergistic interactions in vivo that are difficult to model in vitro.This article is part of the themed issue 'Evolutionary ecology of arthropod antimicrobial peptides'.

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“…Sun et al [31], for , and putative AMPs and an attacin described [25]. Adapted from Johnston et al [15].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Antimicrobial defence and persistent infection in insects revisited

Makarova

Rodríguez‐Rojas

Eravci

et al. 2016

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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“…This species is well known as a model for innate immunity (Chae et al, 2012;Dobson et al, 2012;Goltsev et al, 2009;Johnston et al, 2014;Lee et al, 1996;Moon et al, 1994;Park et al, 2007Park et al, , 2006Yu et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2003;Zhu et al, 2013Zhu et al, , 2014, but has also received considerable attention with respect to TGIP (Dubuffet et al, 2015;Moreau et al, 2012;Moret, 2006;Zanchi et al, 2012). Here we show that the eggs of T. molitor can induce immune genes, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), to high levels upon bacterial challenge.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…In this study we choose to adopt attacin D and defensin 1, respectively, for these genes, as these names confer information about the gene families discussed. Furthermore, we were able to identify coleoptericin A-C (accession All26031.1, All26032.1 and All26033.1; Zhu et al, 2014), attacin C (Dobson et al, 2012), tenecin 3 (accession Q27270.1; Lee et al, 1996), PGRP-SA (accession BAE78510.1; Park et al, 2006) and PGRP-SC2 (accession BAJ23047.1; Yu et al, 2010). We also found attacin A and B (described as attacin A and C in Johnston et al, 2014), cecropin, defensin 2 and 3, thaumatin 1-3, a putative defense protein hdd11, a GNBP and a toll receptor.…”

Section: Sequences Of Immune-related Genes and Primers Used For Real-mentioning

confidence: 98%

Endogenous egg immune defenses in the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor)

Jacobs

Gallagher

Evison

et al. 2017

Developmental & Comparative Immunology

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In order to survive microbe encounters, insects rely on both physical barriers as well as local and systemic immune responses. Most research focusses on adult or larval defenses however, whereas insect eggs are also in need of protection. Lately, the defense of eggs against microbes has received an increasing amount of attention, be it through endogenous egg defenses, trans-generational immune priming (TGIP) or parental investment. Here we studied the endogenous immune response in eggs and adults of Tenebrio molitor. We show that many immune genes are induced in both adults and eggs. Furthermore, we show that eggs reach comparable levels of immune gene expression as adults. These findings show that the eggs of Tenebrio are capable of an impressive endogenous immune response, and indicate that such inducible egg defenses are likely common in insects.

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“…2011; Dobson et al. 2012). It combines normalization and suppression PCR steps in a single cycle and can achieve a high level of enrichment for rare, differentially expressed transcripts (up to 5000‐fold).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2011; Dobson et al. 2012). Because both the identity of the differentially expressed genes and the direction of differential expression were unknown, we prepared separate cDNA libraries representing prepupae derived from larvae reared under SD or LD conditions and created LD – SD and SD – LD subtracted libraries to identify genes preferentially expressed in the rapidly developing spring phenotype and the overwintering summer phenotype, respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal phenotype‐specific transcriptional reprogramming during metamorphosis in the European map butterfly Araschnia levana

Vilcinskas

Vogel

2016

Ecology and Evolution

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The European map butterfly (Araschnia levana) is a classic example of seasonal polyphenism because the spring and summer imagoes display two distinct morphological phenotypes. The light regime and temperature during larval and prepupal development determine whether or not the pupae commit to diapause and overwintering and thus whether spring or summer imagoes emerge. We used suppression subtractive hybridization to experimentally screen for genes that are differentially expressed in prepupae committed either to accelerated metamorphosis and egg production or diapause and overwintering. The range and ontology of the differentially expressed genes in prepupae developing from larvae exposed either to long‐day (LD) or short‐day (SD) conditions revealed fundamental differences. The SD prepupae preferentially expressed genes related to cuticle formation and immunity, reflecting the formation of a robust pupal exoskeleton and the upregulation of antimicrobial peptides as preparations for overwintering. One protein preferentially expressed in SD prepupae has a counterpart in Bombyx mori that functions as a diapause duration clock. The differentially expressed genes in LD prepupae included several members of the dusky and osiris families. We also observed the strong induction of different yellow‐like genes under SD and LD conditions which suggest a role in the developmental choice between seasonal phenotypes. Our transcriptomic data will facilitate the more detailed analysis of molecular mechanisms underlying seasonal polyphenism.

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Identification of immunological expressed sequence tags in the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor

Cited by 24 publications

References 44 publications

Antimicrobial defence and persistent infection in insects revisited

Antimicrobial defence and persistent infection in insects revisited

Endogenous egg immune defenses in the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor)

Seasonal phenotype‐specific transcriptional reprogramming during metamorphosis in the European map butterfly Araschnia levana

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