A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Intra- and trans-generational effects of larval diet on susceptibility to an entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, in the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella




AuthorsKangassalo K, Valtonen TM, Roff D, Polkki M, Dubovskiy IM, Sorvari J, Rantala MJ

PublisherWiley-Blackwell

Publication year2015

JournalJournal of Evolutionary Biology

Journal name in sourceJOURNAL OF EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Journal acronymJ evolution biol

Volume28

Issue8

First page 1453

Last page1464

Number of pages12

ISSN1010-061X

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.12666(external)


Abstract

In addition to nutritional conditions experienced by individuals themselves, those experienced by their parents can affect their immune function. Here, we studied the intra- and trans-generational effects of larval diet on susceptibility to an entomopathogenic fungus, Beauveria bassiana, in the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella. In the first part of the study, a split-brood design was used to compare the susceptibility of full sibs raised either on low- or on high-nutrition larval diet. In the second part of the study, a similar experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of maternal and paternal diet as well as their interaction on offspring's susceptibility. In the first part of the study, we found that individuals fed with high-nutrition diet had higher mortality from infection than individuals fed with low-nutrition diet. However, diet did not affect post-infection survival time. Conversely, in the second part of the study, maternal diet was found to have no significant effect on final mortality rate of offspring, but it affected survival time: larvae with high-nutrition maternal diet survived fewer days after infection than larvae with low-nutrition maternal diet. Paternal diet had no significant effect on offspring's susceptibility to the fungus, indicating that paternal effects are not as important as maternal effects in influencing immune function in this species. Our findings provide further indication that maternal nutrition affects immune function in insects, and suggest that the direct effects of nutrition on immunity may be different, yet parallel, to those caused by parental nutrition.




Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 19:42