Project description:The larvae of black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens L., are of economic importance due to their potential as livestock feed. However, the knowledge on their immune response to infection and wounding remains limited. In this study, we uncover the transcriptomic response of BSF larvae to wounding as well as infection with Gram-negative pathogen, Pseudomonas protegens Pf-5 at multiple timepoints. We observed that initially the BSF larvae generated a common immune response to both wounding and infection. However, the immune response is only upregulated in infected larvae over time, while the gene expression in response to wounding reduced over time. Genes encoding for signalling molecules such as PGRP-SA, Relish as well as genes encoding antimicrobial peptides like cecropin, defensin and attacin contributed primarily to BSF larvae's immune responses to both wounding as well as infection.
Project description:The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of graded levels of black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) meal and BSFL paste in extruded diets for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). A total of 1260 Atlantic salmon with 34 g of mean initial weight were randomly distributed into 21 fiberglass tanks and fed (n=3) with seven extruded isolipidic and isonitrogenous diets for seven weeks. The experimental diets consisted of a positive control diet based on fishmeal, soy protein concentrate, corn gluten, faba bean and fish oil (Control_1); three diets with increased levels of full lipid BSFL meal, substituting 6.25% (6.25_IM), 12.5% (12.5_IM) and 25% (25_IM) of the protein content of Control_1; two diets with increased levels of full lipid BSFL paste, substituting 3.7% (3.7_IP) and 6.7% (6.7_IP); and of protein from Control_1 and a negative a control with 0.84 % of formic acid (Control_2). We investigate the effect of diets on growth performance, mmune response and health.
Project description:The larvae of black soldier fly (BSF) Hermetia illucens (Diptera: Stratiomyidae), has demonstrated ability in the efficient bioconversion of organic waste into a sustainable source of food and feed, but fundamental biology remains to be discovered to exploit their full biodegradative potential. Herein, LC-MS/MS was used to assess the efficiency of eight differing extraction protocols to build foundational knowledge regarding the proteome landscape of both BSF larvae body and gut. No specific protocol was superior in capturing the BSF body and gut proteome, but each yielded complementary information to improve BSF proteome coverage. Protocol-specific functional annotation using protein level information has shown that the selection of extraction buffer can affect protein detection and their associated functional classes within the measured BSF larval gut proteome. Metaproteome analysis on BSF larvae gut has uncovered the prevalence of two bacterial phyla: actinobacteria and proteobacteria. We envisage that comparing a range of extraction protocols and investigating the proteome from the BSF body and gut separately will expand the fundamental knowledge of the BSF proteome and thereby provide translational opportunities for future research to enhance their efficiency for waste degradation and contribution to the circular economy.