Comparative Analysis of Epicuticular Lipids in Locusta migratoria and Calliptamus italicus: A Possible Role in Susceptibility to Entomopathogenic Fungi
Ganina M.D. Tyurin M.V. Zhumatayeva U.T. Lednev G.R. Morozov S.V. Kryukov V.Y.
August 2022MDPI
Insects
2022#13Issue 8
Cuticular lipids protect insects from desiccation and may determine resistance to fungal pathogens. Nonetheless, the trade-off between these lipid functions is still poorly understood. The migratory locust Locusta migratoria and the Italian locust Calliptamus italicus have dissimilar hygrothermal preferences: L. migratoria inhabits areas near water bodies with a reed bed, and C. italicus exploits a wide range of habitats and prefers steppes and semideserts with the predominance of sagebrushes. This paper presents significant differences between these species’ nymphs in epicuticular lipid composition (according to gas chromatography with mass spectrometry) and in susceptibility to Metarhizium robertsii and Beauveria bassiana. The main differences in lipid composition are shifts to longer chain and branched hydrocarbons (di- and trimethylalkanes) in C. italicus compared to L. migratoria. C. italicus also has a slightly higher n-alkane content. Fatty acids showed low concentrations in the extracts, and L. migratoria has a wider range of fatty acids than C. italicus does. Susceptibility to M. robertsii and the number of conidia adhering to the cuticle proved to be significantly higher in C. italicus, although conidia germination percentages on epicuticular extracts did not differ between the species. We propose that the hydrocarbon composition of C. italicus may be an adaptation to a wide range of habitats including arid ones but may make the C. italicus cuticle more hospitable for fungi.
alkanes , climatic adaptations , insect cuticle , Metarhizium , mycoses
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N.N. Vorozhtsov Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Academician Lavrentyev Ave. 9, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, Frunze Str. 11, Novosibirsk, 630091, Russian Federation
Department of Plant Protection and Quarantine, Faculty of Agrabiology, Kazakh National Agrarian Research University, Abai Avenue 8, Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan
All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection, Podbelskogo Avenue 3, St. Petersburg, Pushkin, 196608, Russian Federation
N.N. Vorozhtsov Novosibirsk Institute of Organic Chemistry
Institute of Systematics and Ecology of Animals
Department of Plant Protection and Quarantine
All-Russian Institute of Plant Protection
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