Always being well prepared for defense: The production of deterrents by juvenile Chrysomelina beetles (Chrysomelidae)

Burse, Antje; Frick, Stephanie; Discher, Sabrina; Tolzin‐Banasch, Karla; Kirsch, Roy; Strauß, Anja; Kunert, Maritta; Boland, Wilhelm

doi:10.1016/j.phytochem.2009.08.002

Cited by 31 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 64 publications

(101 reference statements)

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“…Ingested plant β‐glucosidases thus may have driven the evolution of efficient transporters in insects (Müller & Wittstock, ; Müller, ). As the midgut is the most permeable part of the digestive tract (Dow, ), general transporters may enable most glucosides to enter the haemolymph, and more specialized transporters may channel only specific substrates into the final tissue (Kunert et al , ; Burse et al , ).…”

Section: From Feeding To Digestion: Targets For Insect Herbivore Adapmentioning

confidence: 99%

How insects overcome two‐component plant chemical defence: plant β‐glucosidases as the main target for herbivore adaptation

et al. 2013

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Insect herbivory is often restricted by glucosylated plant chemical defence compounds that are activated by plant β-glucosidases to release toxic aglucones upon plant tissue damage. Such two-component plant defences are widespread in the plant kingdom and examples of these classes of compounds are alkaloid, benzoxazinoid, cyanogenic and iridoid glucosides as well as glucosinolates and salicinoids. Conversely, many insects have evolved a diversity of counteradaptations to overcome this type of constitutive chemical defence. Here we discuss that such counter-adaptations occur at different time points, before and during feeding as well as during digestion, and at several levels such as the insects’ feeding behaviour, physiology and metabolism. Insect adaptations frequently circumvent or counteract the activity of the plant β-glucosidases, bioactivating enzymes that are a key element in the plant’s two-component chemical defence. These adaptations include host plant choice, non-disruptive feeding guilds and various physiological adaptations as well as metabolic enzymatic strategies of the insect’s digestive system. Furthermore, insect adaptations often act in combination, may exist in both generalists and specialists, and can act on different classes of defence compounds. We discuss how generalist and specialist insects appear to differ in their ability to use these different types of adaptations: in generalists, adaptations are often inducible, whereas in specialists they are often constitutive. Future studies are suggested to investigate in detail how insect adaptations act in combination to overcome plant chemical defences and to allow ecologically relevant conclusions.

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Section: From Feeding To Digestion: Targets For Insect Herbivore Adapmentioning

confidence: 99%

How insects overcome two‐component plant chemical defence: plant β‐glucosidases as the main target for herbivore adaptation

et al. 2013

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“…Numerous studies have investigated the effect of salicinoids on lepidopteran herbivorous insects, such as Papilio glaucus (Lindroth 1991), Choristoneura conflictica (Clausen et al 1989), Malacosoma disstria and Lymantria dispar (Lindroth and Hemming 1990) or Operophtera brumata (Boeckler et al 2016;Ruuhola et al 2001). Coleopteran larvae belonging to the Chrysomelidae family can sequester salicinoids and use their host plant's chemical defense to ward off predators (Burse et al 2009). Recently, a comprehensive study of the generalist herbivore L. dispar (Boeckler et al 2016) provided the first detailed description of how a lepidopteran detoxifies salicinoid compounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acylated Quinic Acids Are the Main Salicortin Metabolites in the Lepidopteran Specialist Herbivore Cerura vinula

et al. 2018

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Salicortin is a phenolic glucoside produced in Salicaceae as a chemical defense against herbivory. The specialist lepidopteran herbivorous larvae of Cerura vinula are able to overcome this defense. We examined the main frass constituents of C. vinula fed on Populus nigra leaves, and identified 11 quinic acid derivatives with benzoate and/or salicylate substitution. We asked whether the compounds are a result of salicortin breakdown and sought answers by carrying out feeding experiments with highly 13 C-enriched salicortin. Using HRMS and NMR analyses, we were able to confirm that salicortin metabolism in C. vinula proceeds through deglucosylation and ester hydrolysis, after which saligenin is oxidatively transformed into salicylic acid and, eventually, conjugated to quinic acid. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a detoxification pathway based on conjugation with quinic acid.

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“…Studies of the aggregation pheromones of bark beetles (Seybold et al, 1995;Hall et al, 2002a,b;Tittiger et al, 2003;Gilg et al, 2005) were the first evidence for de novo biosynthesis of monoterpene pheromone components, which had previously been thought to have been acquired via their pheromone precursors from their diet. Additional studies of isoprenoids in insects include (E)-bfarnesene (sesquiterpenoid) as the key component of aphid alarm pheromone components (Lewis et al, 2008;Vandermoten et al, 2008Vandermoten et al, , 2012, iridoid as a defensive secretion in leaf-beetle larvae (Burse et al, 2008(Burse et al, , 2009Kunert et al, 2008), and pinene and farnesene as termite defence secretions (Hojo et al, 2007), which are all de novo synthesized by the MVA pathway. However, in blister beetles the biosynthetic pathway for cantharidin is without any known parallel (Carrel et al, 1993), and no enzyme involved in cantharidin biosynthesis has been identified in blister beetles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

3‐hydroxy‐3‐methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase: an essential actor in the biosynthesis of cantharidin in the blister beetle Epicauta chinensisLaporte

Jiang

Huo

et al. 2015

Insect Molecular Biology

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Cantharidin (C(10)H(12)O(4)) is a monoterpene defensive toxin in insects involved in chemical defence as well as in courtship and mating behaviours. It is relatively well known in the medical literature because of its high anticancer activity and as an effective therapy for molluscum contagiosum. However, little is known about its biosynthesis pathway in vivo, and no enzyme involved in cantharidin biosynthesis has been identified. The purpose of this study was to identify the crucial enzyme that is involved in the biosynthesis of cantharidin. Using the homology cloning method, a 3-hydroxy-3-methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) gene, the rate-limiting enzyme in the mevalonate pathway, was cloned from the blister beetle Epicauta chinensis. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR and gas chromatography methods revealed that the HMGR transcripts had a positive correlation with cantharidin production in the beetles (R = 0.891). RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of HMGR mRNA expression was achieved by microinjection of a specific double-stranded RNA with more than 90% RNAi efficiency, and an apparent decrease of cantharidin production was observed. Furthermore, the HMGR mRNA was greatly upregulated by exogenous juvenile hormone III (JH III), and cantharidin production was also raised in males; however, when injecting the JH III with RNAi of HMGR mRNA at the same time, cantharidin production did not rise. These results demonstrate that HMGR is an essential enzyme in cantharidin biosynthesis in the blister beetle E. chinensis, which further verifies previous research results demonstrating that cantharidin is synthesized de novo by the mevalonate pathway in blister beetles.

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Always being well prepared for defense: The production of deterrents by juvenile Chrysomelina beetles (Chrysomelidae)

Cited by 31 publications

References 64 publications

How insects overcome two‐component plant chemical defence: plant β‐glucosidases as the main target for herbivore adaptation

How insects overcome two‐component plant chemical defence: plant β‐glucosidases as the main target for herbivore adaptation

Acylated Quinic Acids Are the Main Salicortin Metabolites in the Lepidopteran Specialist Herbivore Cerura vinula

3‐hydroxy‐3‐methyl glutaryl coenzyme A reductase: an essential actor in the biosynthesis of cantharidin in the blister beetle Epicauta chinensisLaporte

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