Sequestration of cucurbitacins from cucumber plants by Diabrotica balteata larvae provides little protection against biological control agents.

ABSTRACT: Cucurbitaceae plants produce cucurbitacins, bitter triterpenoids, to protect themselves against various insects and pathogens. Adult banded cucumber beetles (Diabrotica balteata), a common pest of maize and cucurbits, sequester cucurbitacins, presumably as a defensive mechanism against their natural enemies, which might reduce the efficacy of biological control agents. Whether the larvae also sequester and are protected by cucurbitacins is unclear. We profiled cucurbitacin levels in four varieties of cucumber, Cucumis sativus, and in larvae fed on these varieties. Then, we evaluated larval growth and resistance against common biocontrol organisms including insect predators, entomopathogenic nematodes, fungi and bacteria. We found considerable qualitative and quantitative diff

SUBMITTER: Bruno P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10169900 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature