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ARS Home » Plains Area » Manhattan, Kansas » Center for Grain and Animal Health Research » Stored Product Insect and Engineering Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #334974
Research Project: Sustainable Management Strategies for Stored-Product Insects

Location: Stored Product Insect and Engineering Research

Title: The impacts of feeding in a resistant tree on the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) and its gut microbiota

Author
item Scully, Erin
item Geib, Scott
item HOOVER, KELLI - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/26/2016
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The Asian longhorned beetle (ALB; Anoplophora glabripennis) is an invasive, wood-boring beetle capable of thriving in the heartwood of a broad range of angiospermous trees. Here, it faces a number of nutritional and digestive challenges, including the presence of highly recalcitrant lignocellulose and hemicellulose, high concentrations of plant defensive chemicals, and low abundances of essential amino acids and nutrients. Through transcriptome, metagenome, and metatranscriptome profiling, we demonstrated that both the beetle and its microbiota encode rich suites of digestive and detoxification enzymes and that the microbial community is enriched with genes involved in nutrient recycling and synthesis of essential amino acids. Despite its broad host range, there are several tree species which display considerable resistance to ALB and other wood-boring pests, but the mechanisms underlying this resistance have not yet been characterized. In this study, we investigated the impacts of feeding in a resistant poplar tree on ALB and its gut microbiota. Our results revealed that feeding in this resistant host causes substantial disruptions to the gut bacterial and fungal communities, interferes with the expression of beetle genes with predicted roles in detoxification and interactions with gut microbes, and reduces the abundances of several proteins with key roles in digestion.