| Title: | Cultivable gut bacteria provide a pathway for adaptation of Chrysolina herbacea to Mentha aquatica volatiles |
| Author(s): | Pizzolante G; Cordero C; Tredici SM; Vergara D; Pontieri P; Del Giudice L; Capuzzo A; Rubiolo P; Kanchiswamy CN; Zebelo SA; Bicchi C; Maffei ME; Alifano P; |
| Address: | "Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, via Monteroni 165, 73100, Lecce, Italy. Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco, Universita di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria n degrees 9, 10125, Torino, Italy. Dipartimento di Biologia, Sezione di Igiene, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources-UOS Portici (IBBR-UOS Portici), CNR, Portici (NA) c/o, 80134, Naples, Italy. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Universita di Torino, Via Quarello 15/A, 10135, Torino, Italy. Research and Innovation Centre Genomics and Biology of Fruit Crop Department, Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM), Istituto Agrario San Michele (IASMA), Via Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all'Adige, TN, Italy. Department of Natural Sciences, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, 1117 Trigg Hall, Princess Anne, 21853, MD, USA. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e Biologia dei Sistemi, Universita di Torino, Via Quarello 15/A, 10135, Torino, Italy. massimo.maffei@unito.it. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Technologies, University of Salento, via Monteroni 165, 73100, Lecce, Italy. pietro.alifano@unisalento.it" |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12870-017-0986-6 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2229 (Electronic) 1471-2229 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "BACKGROUND: A chemical cross-talk between plants and insects is required in order to achieve a successful co-adaptation. In response to herbivory, plants produce specific compounds, and feeding insects respond adequately7 to molecules produced by plants. Here we show the role of the gut microbial community of the mint beetle Chrysolina herbacea in the chemical cross-talk with Mentha aquatica (or watermint). RESULTS: By using two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometry we first evaluated the chemical patterns of both M. aquatica leaf and frass volatiles extracted by C. herbacea males and females feeding on plants, and observed marked differences between males and females volatiles. The sex-specific chemical pattern of the frass paralleled with sex-specific distribution of cultivable gut bacteria. Indeed, all isolated gut bacteria from females belonged to either alpha- or gamma-Proteobacteria, whilst those from males were gamma-Proteobacteria or Firmicutes. We then demonstrated that five Serratia marcescens strains from females possessed antibacterial activity against bacteria from males belonging to Firmicutes suggesting competition by production of antimicrobial compounds. By in vitro experiments, we lastly showed that the microbial communities from the two sexes were associated to specific metabolic patterns with respect to their ability to biotransform M. aquatica terpenoids, and metabolize them into an array of compounds with possible pheromone activity. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that cultivable gut bacteria of Chrysolina herbacea males and females influence the volatile blend of herbivory induced Mentha aquatica volatiles in a sex-specific way" |
| Keywords: | "Adaptation, Biological/drug effects/*physiology Animals Bacteria/genetics Coleoptera/drug effects/*microbiology/physiology Female *Gastrointestinal Microbiome/drug effects/genetics Herbivory Male Mentha/*chemistry/physiology Oils, Volatile/pharmacokinetic;" |
| Notes: | "MedlinePizzolante, Graziano Cordero, Chiara Tredici, Salvatore M Vergara, Davide Pontieri, Paola Del Giudice, Luigi Capuzzo, Andrea Rubiolo, Patrizia Kanchiswamy, Chidananda N Zebelo, Simon A Bicchi, Carlo Maffei, Massimo E Alifano, Pietro eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2017/03/03 BMC Plant Biol. 2017 Mar 2; 17(1):30. doi: 10.1186/s12870-017-0986-6" |
