Symbiotic microbes aid host adaptation by metabolizing a deterrent host pine carbohydrate d-pinitol in a beetle-fungus invasive complex.

ABSTRACT: The red turpentine beetle (RTB) is one of the most destructive invasive pests in China and solely consumes pine phloem containing high amounts of d-pinitol. Previous studies reported that d-pinitol exhibits deterrent effects on insects. However, it remains unknown how insects overcome d-pinitol during their host plant adaptation. We found that d-pinitol had an antagonistic effect on RTB, which mainly relied on gallery microbes to degrade d-pinitol to enhance host adaptation with mutualistic Leptographium procerum and two symbiotic bacteria, Erwinia and Serratia, responsible for this degradation. Genomic, transcriptomic, and functional investigations revealed that all three microbes can metabolize d-pinitol via different branches of the inositol pathway. Our results col

SUBMITTER: Liu F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9788770 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature