Mechanisms and fitness effects of antibacterial defences in a carrion beetle
Mechanisms and fitness effects of antibacterial defences in a carrion beetle
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02486.x
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发表时间：
2012-05-01
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Rozen, D. E.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Arce, A. N.;Johnston, P. R.;Rozen, D. E.
许多物种的父母通过保护他们的后代免受各种环境危害，包括干燥，食物短缺，捕食者，竞争对手，寄生虫和病原体。目前，很少有人知道的机制和健身的父母对细菌病原体和竞争对手的防御后果。在这里，我们联合收割机的方法，从微生物学和行为生态学调查的作用和机理基础的抗菌分泌物适用于尸体的父母埋葬甲虫Nicrophorus vespilloides。该物种在脊椎动物尸体上饲养其幼虫，由于与细菌分解者的竞争，幼虫遭受显着的健身成本。我们首先证实，肛门分泌物产生的父母是有力的杀菌和他们的影响是特定的革兰氏阳性菌。接下来，我们将细菌杀灭的来源确定为分泌的溶菌酶，并表明其浓度在整个繁殖周期中会发生变化。最后，我们表明，分泌的溶菌酶是至关重要的幼虫的发展，增加了近两倍的存活率相比，在它的情况下饲养的后代。这些结果表明，第一次，肛门分泌物适用于腐肉是一种形式的父母照顾，并扩大了机械库的防御所使用的亲本昆虫，以保护依赖的后代免受微生物的威胁。
Parents of many species care for their offspring by protecting them from a wide range of environmental hazards, including desiccation, food shortages, predators, competitors, and parasites and pathogens. Currently, little is known about the mechanisms and fitness consequences of parental defences against bacterial pathogens and competitors. Here, we combine approaches from microbiology and behavioural ecology to investigate the role and mechanistic basis of antibacterial secretions applied to carcasses by parents of the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides. This species rears its larvae on vertebrate carcasses, where larvae suffer significant fitness costs due to competition with bacterial decomposers. We first confirm that anal secretions produced by parents are potently bactericidal and that their effects are specific to gram-positive bacteria. Next, we identify the source of bacterial killing as a secreted lysozyme and show that its concentration changes throughout the breeding cycle. Finally, we show that secreted lysozyme is crucial for larval development, increasing survival by nearly two-fold compared to offspring reared in its absence. These results demonstrate for the first time that anal secretions applied to carrion is a form of parental care and expand the mechanistic repertoire of defences used by parent insects to protect dependent offspring from microbial threats.