Spider mites escape bacterial infection by avoiding contaminated food

Zélé, Flore; Santos-Matos, Gonçalo; Figueiredo, Alexandre R. T.; Eira, Cátia; Pinto, Catarina; Laurentino, Telma G.; Sucena, Élio; Magalhães, Sara

doi:10.1007/s00442-018-4316-y

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…Our previous work with Japanese macaques focused on intensity of infection with nematode parasites (Sarabian and MacIntosh, 2015), and Poirotte and Kappeler (2019) used parasite status/richness (i.e., number of nematode species present) as a proxy of infection in gray mouse lemurs. Thus, our results add to the growing body of literature showing that sensitivity to contamination can drive feeding decisions in primates, as they do in other taxa (Ezenwa, 2004;Anderson and McMullan, 2018;Coulson et al, 2018;Zélé et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Avoidance of Contaminated Food Correlates With Low Protozoan Infection in Bonobos

2021

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Intense selection pressure from parasites on free-living animals has resulted in behavioral adaptations that help potential hosts avoid sources of infection. In primates, such “behavioral immunity” is expressed in different contexts and may vary according to the ecology of the host, the nature of the infectious agent, and the individual itself. In this study, we investigated whether avoidance of contaminated food was associated with reduced parasite infection in sanctuary-housed bonobos. To do this, we used bonobos’ responses to soil- and fecally-contaminated food in behavioral experiments, and then compared the results with an estimate of protozoan infection across individuals. We found that avoidance of contaminated food correlated negatively with Balantioides coli infection, a potentially pathogenic protozoan transmitted through the fecal-oral route. The association between avoidance responses and parasitism were most evident in experiments in which subjects were offered a choice of food items falling along a gradient of fecal contamination. In the case of experiments with more limited options and a high degree of contamination, most subjects were averse to the presented food item and this may have mitigated any relationship between feeding decisions and infection. In experiments with low perceived levels of contamination, most subjects consumed previously contaminated food items, which may also have obscured such a relationship. The behavioral immunity observed may be a consequence of the direct effects of parasites (infection), reflecting the first scale of a landscape of disgust: individual responses. Indirect effects of parasites, such as modulation of feeding decisions and reduced social interactions—and their potential trade-offs with physiological immunity—are also discussed in light of individual fitness and primate evolution. This study builds on previous work by showing that avoidance behaviors may be effective in limiting exposure to a wide diversity of oro-fecally transmitted parasites.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Avoidance of Contaminated Food Correlates With Low Protozoan Infection in Bonobos

2021

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“…This is because the low diversity of their microbial community reduces the scope for the competitive exclusion of harmful microbes, and thus makes them vulnerable to manipulation (Foster et al, 2017;Johnson and Foster, 2018). In line with this idea, both pea aphids (A. pisum) and spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) do not increase their antibacterial defenses after an immune challenge, but instead seem to ramp up a terminal investment into reproduction (Altincicek et al, 2008;Santos-Matos et al, 2017;Zélé et al, 2019). While the lack of antibacterial defenses in these (and other plant-sap feeding) arthropods has been ascribed to their limited exposure to foodborn microbes, it might also reflect a shift in defensive strategies due to the limited chances for a successful defense against pathogens or parasites.…”

Section: One Host -Few Microbesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperation and Conflict Within the Microbiota and Their Effects On Animal Hosts

Figueiredo

Kramer

2020

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Symbioses between animals and microbes are ubiquitous, and often have drastic fitness effects on both parties. A rapidly growing body of research now shows that many of these effects are driven by social interactions among the symbionts. For instance, microbes frequently cooperate by producing shareable "public goods" that can mediate both virulence and host-beneficial functions. Conversely, hosts often exert control over symbionts by targeting their social interactions. Despite this pivotal role, we have only started to uncover the full diversity of microbial interactions, and many of the factors that shape variation in their effects on host function and evolution across different symbioses remain elusive. Here, we (i) review the known diversity of microbial interactions across different symbioses, and (ii) argue that variation in their nature and impact is often determined by differences in symbiont diversity. In particular, we first give a primer on the social lives of microbes, and then discuss how intraspecific and interspecific interactions among microbial symbionts affect -and are affected by -their host. Subsequently, we move to the evolution of symbiosis, and discuss the role of microbial interactions in symbioses that feature only few versus many different symbiont species. We show that symbiont-rich symbioses are shaped by strong interspecific competition, which selects against many host-beneficial forms of microbial cooperation, and thereby limits the scope for the evolution of strong host-symbiont dependencies. Conversely, symbioses involving only few symbiont species are often characterized by forms of microbial cooperation that mediate host-beneficial services, a situation that increases the scope for the evolution of host-symbiont dependencies. Overall, we infer that the explicit consideration of social dynamics within symbiont communities of varying complexity is crucial to advance our understanding of how microbes shape animal function and evolution.

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“…To unravel the cause of spider-mite responses to cadmium-accumulating tomato plants, we exposed a subset of the spider-mite populations to artificial diets (Table S1), created with 0.445 mL Schneider medium, 0.545 ml of a given solution and 0.01 ml of food-colouring dye (Zélé et al 2019). These solutions contained either cadmium chloride or glucose, at different concentrations (0, 50, 150, 300, 500, 750 mg/kg and 0, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 25 mmol, respectively), covering the range of concentrations accumulated in tomato plants amended with up to 1.5 mM of cadmium chloride (Godinho et al 2018).…”

Section: Herbivore Performance On Artificial Dietsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraspecific variability in herbivore response to elemental defences is caused by the metal itself

2022

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Some plants are able to accumulate on their leaves metals taken from the soil, using this as a defence against herbivorous arthropods. However, herbivore response to metal accumulation in plants is known to be variable. While some species and taxonomic groups are less affected than others, hormetic effects have also been observed in spider-mites, herbivorous crop pests.Still, knowledge on the range and causes of intraspecific variation in the response of herbivores to metal accumulation is lacking. Here, using two species of spider-mites, Tetranychus urticae and T. evansi, we tested the variation of 17 populations in response to cadmium-accumulating tomato plants and the drivers of such variation. We observed a nonlinear, hormetic response of mites to plants with cadmium in some, but not all, populations.The same pattern was recaptured in artificial diets with different concentrations of cadmium but not in artificial diets with sugars, which change in the plant in response to cadmium. This indicates that herbivores on metal-accumulating plants respond to metals, not to the variations in leaf carbohydrates. Therefore, metals exert different effects on herbivores according to the amount accumulated, but independently of other plant traits. This knowledge is key to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying herbivore responses to metal-based plant defences and to pesticides containing heavy metals. Additionally, our findings draw attention to the need of considering intraspecific variation and non-linearities when studying the effects of metals and other contaminants on herbivorous arthropods.

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Spider mites escape bacterial infection by avoiding contaminated food

Cited by 9 publications

References 66 publications

Avoidance of Contaminated Food Correlates With Low Protozoan Infection in Bonobos

Avoidance of Contaminated Food Correlates With Low Protozoan Infection in Bonobos

Cooperation and Conflict Within the Microbiota and Their Effects On Animal Hosts

Intraspecific variability in herbivore response to elemental defences is caused by the metal itself

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