The induction by Beauveria bassiana of a special innate immune response in the insects Ceratitis capitata and Tenebrio molitor

MARTÍN M. PÉREZ; CLAUDIA LÓPEZ LASTRA; LUIS A. QUESADA ALLUÉ; LUCÍA TURDERA

Buenos Aires

Congreso; Reunión conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias (LIII Reunión Anual de SAIB 2017); 2017

Reunión conjunta de Sociedades de Biociencias

Insects trigger a multifaceted innate immune response to fight microbial infections. We previously demonstrated that a response to microorganisms (bacteria and yeast) infection is the induction of N-β-alanyldopamine (NBAD) synthesis in the insects epidermis.Here we show for the first time the ability of entomopathogenic filamentousfungi to induce that special innate immune response (SIIR) through the induction of NBAD- synthase. We tested the pathogenicity of two novel strains of Beauveria bassiana selected for their infectivity in dipterans (strain 436) and coleopterans (strain 075) in the Medfly C. capitata and in the mealworm T. molitor. We here demonstrated the induction of the NBAD- synthase in cell-freeextracts of both insects.We show that B.bassiana 436 is pathogenic for C.capitata when topically administered with a suspension of 1.106 conidia/mL. When infected, survival in the medfly was 19 ± 1.73 days compared to controls 32 days (Test Mantel-Cox p=0.00284 (S). No significant differences were observed between sexes. Surprisingly, the strain 075, entomopathogenic for coleopteran, also proved to be infective for diptera using a puncture method (p