AI Article Synopsis
Article Abstract
Defensive chemicals of prey can be sequestered by some coevolved predators, which take advantage of prey toxins for their own defence. The increase in the number of invasive species in the Anthropocene has resulted in new interactions among non-coevolved predator and prey species. While novelty in chemical defence may provide a benefit for invasive prey against non-coevolved predators, resident predators with the right evolutionary pre-adaptations might benefit from sequestering these novel defences. Here, we chose a well-known system of invasive species to test whether non-coevolved predators can sequester and use toxins from exotic prey. Together with the invasive prickly pear plants, cochineal bugs ( spp.) are spreading worldwide from their native range in the Americas. These insects produce carminic acid, a defensive anthraquinone that some specialized predators sequester for their own defence. Using this system, we first determined whether coccinellids that prey on cochineal bugs in the Mediterranean region tolerated, sequestered, and released carminic acid in reflex bleeding. Then, we quantified the deterrent effect of carminic acid against antagonistic ants. Our results demonstrate that the Australian coccinellid sequestered carminic acid, a substance absent in its coevolved prey, from exotic cochineal bugs. When attacked, the predator released this substance through reflex bleeding at concentrations that were deterrent against antagonistic ants. These findings reveal that non-coevolved predators can sequester and use novel toxins from exotic prey and highlights the surprising outcomes of novel interactions that arise from species invasions.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10932698 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.2478 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Taken to extremes: Loss of plastid rpl32 in Streptophyta and Cuscuta's unconventional solution for its replacement.
Mol Phylogenet Evol
November 2024
Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway. Electronic address:
The evolution of plant genomes is riddled with exchanges of genetic material within one plant (endosymbiotic gene transfer/EGT) and between unrelated plants (horizontal gene transfer/HGT). These exchanges have left their marks on plant genomes. Parasitic plants with their special evolutionary niche provide ample examples for these processes because they are under a reduced evolutionary pressure to maintain autotrophy and thus to conserve their plastid genomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe polyvalent sequestration ability of an economically important beetle.
Curr Biol
December 2024
University of Neuchâtel, Institute of Biology, FARCE Laboratory, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Electronic address:
Many specialized herbivorous insects sequester single classes of toxic secondary metabolites from their host plants as protection against natural enemies. If and how herbivores can use multiple classes of plant toxins across the large chemical diversity of plants for self-protection is unknown. We show that the polyphagous adults of the beetle Diabrotica virgifera are capable of selectively accumulating benzoxazinoids, cucurbitacins, and glucosinolates but not cyanogenic glycosides.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFungi of Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA: a spatial survey.
Front Fungal Biol
September 2024
Great Salt Lake Institute, Westminster University, Salt Lake City, UT, United States.
The natural system at Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA was augmented by the construction of a rock-filled railroad causeway in 1960, creating two lakes at one site. The north arm is sequestered from the mountain snowmelt inputs and thus became saturated with salts (250-340 g/L). The south arm is a flourishing ecosystem with moderate salinity (90-190 g/L) and a significant body of water for ten million birds on the avian flyways of the western US who engorge themselves on the large biomass of brine flies and shrimp.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFurostanol Saponins and Ecdysteroids from Plants of the Genus as Phagostimulants and Predator Deterrents for Larvae of Two Sawfly Species.
Plants (Basel)
August 2024
DO Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.
Article Synopsis
- Sawfly species specialized in feeding on Ranunculaceae plants can sequester specific furostanol saponins into their haemolymph, which may help them in defense against predators.
- Research involving various chemical analyses and bioassays indicated that while one species predominantly fed on a non-nutritional stimulant from its host, both species showed differences in response to different plant fractions, with β-sitosterol identified as a nutritional stimulant.
- The study found that the larvae of both sawfly species do not produce ecdysteroids endogenously but accumulate them from their diet, using them effectively as a deterrent against ant predators, especially in the initial days following simulated attacks.
Cardenolides in the defensive fluid of adult large milkweed bugs have differential potency on vertebrate and invertebrate predator Na/K-ATPases.
R Soc Open Sci
June 2024
Research Group Predators and Toxic Prey, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
Aposematic animals rely on diverse secondary metabolites for defence. Various hypotheses, such as competition, life history and multifunctionality, have been posited to explain defence variability and diversity. We investigate the compound selectivity hypothesis using large milkweed bugs, , to determine if distinct cardenolides vary in toxicity to different predators.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!