| Title: | Symbiotic polydnavirus and venom reveal parasitoid to its hyperparasitoids |
| Author(s): | Zhu F; Cusumano A; Bloem J; Weldegergis BT; Villela A; Fatouros NE; Van Loon JJA; Dicke M; Harvey JA; Vogel H; Poelman EH; |
| Address: | "Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands. Biosystematics Group, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. Animal Ecology Section, Department of Ecological Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, D-07745 Jena, Germany. Laboratory of Entomology, Wageningen University, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; erik.poelman@wur.nl" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Symbiotic relationships may provide organisms with key innovations that aid in the establishment of new niches. For example, during oviposition, some species of parasitoid wasps, whose larvae develop inside the bodies of other insects, inject polydnaviruses into their hosts. These symbiotic viruses disrupt host immune responses, allowing the parasitoid's progeny to survive. Here we show that symbiotic polydnaviruses also have a downside to the parasitoid's progeny by initiating a multitrophic chain of interactions that reveals the parasitoid larvae to their enemies. These enemies are hyperparasitoids that use the parasitoid progeny as host for their own offspring. We found that the virus and venom injected by the parasitoid during oviposition, but not the parasitoid progeny itself, affected hyperparasitoid attraction toward plant volatiles induced by feeding of parasitized caterpillars. We identified activity of virus-related genes in the caterpillar salivary gland. Moreover, the virus affected the activity of elicitors of salivary origin that induce plant responses to caterpillar feeding. The changes in caterpillar saliva were critical in inducing plant volatiles that are used by hyperparasitoids to locate parasitized caterpillars. Our results show that symbiotic organisms may be key drivers of multitrophic ecological interactions. We anticipate that this phenomenon is widespread in nature, because of the abundance of symbiotic microorganisms across trophic levels in ecological communities. Their role should be more prominently integrated in community ecology to understand organization of natural and managed ecosystems, as well as adaptations of individual organisms that are part of these communities" |
| Keywords: | "Animals Butterflies/*parasitology/physiology/virology Ecosystem Gene Expression Regulation, Plant *Host-Parasite Interactions Larva/*parasitology/physiology/virology Plants/*metabolism/parasitology/virology Polydnaviridae/*physiology Symbiosis Venoms/*adm;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineZhu, Feng Cusumano, Antonino Bloem, Janneke Weldegergis, Berhane T Villela, Alexandre Fatouros, Nina E van Loon, Joop J A Dicke, Marcel Harvey, Jeffrey A Vogel, Heiko Poelman, Erik H eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2018/05/02 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018 May 15; 115(20):5205-5210. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1717904115. Epub 2018 Apr 30" |
