AI Article Synopsis
- Insect gut microbiota play a crucial role in helping wood-boring insects, like Cossidae larvae, defeat the defense mechanisms of host trees, particularly ash trees.
- Researchers isolated gut bacteria from these larvae, tested their ability to break down pinoresinol (a tree defense compound) and cellulose, and identified the byproducts of this degradation.
- All isolated gut bacteria could degrade pinoresinol, with some also able to break down cellulose, suggesting that these microbes not only aid in overcoming tree defenses but may also support the nutritional needs of the insects through carbohydrate synthesis.
Article Abstract
Insect gut microbiota have been widely reported to help the insects to overcome host tree defense. (Lepidoptera: Cossidae) is one of the most common wood borers in China, attacking various hosts, including ash trees ( sp.), but little is known about its gut microbial associates and their involvement in host tree defense. We isolated gut bacteria of larvae, analyzed their ability to degrade pinoresinol (a defense compound of ash trees) and cellulose, and identified pinoresinol degradation products. Larval mortality increased with increasing pinoresinol concentration (reflecting natural variation observed in the host trees). All the five detected gut bacteria isolates were able to degrade pinoresinol, two of which were also capable of cellulose degradation. Furthermore, gut bacteria were also shown to degrade pinoresinol via the gluconeogenesis pathway. These results suggest that -associated microorganisms help to overcome host pinoresinol defense and possibly contribute to insects or gut microbial nutrition via carbohydrate synthesis.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.jafc.3c01307 | DOI Listing |
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