Potential applications of insect symbionts in biotechnology

Abstract

Symbiotic interactions between insects and microorganisms are widespread in nature and are often the source of ecological innovations. In addition to supplementing their host with essential nutrients, microbial symbionts can produce enzymes that help degrade their food source as well as small molecules that defend against pathogens, parasites, and predators. As such, the study of insect ecology and symbiosis represents an important source of chemical compounds and enzymes with potential biotechnological value. In addition, the knowledge on insect symbiosis can provide novel avenues for the control of agricultural pest insects and vectors of human diseases, through targeted manipulation of the symbionts or the host-symbiont associations. Here, we discuss different insect-microbe interactions that can be exploited for insect pest and human disease control, as well as in human medicine and industrial processes. Our aim is to raise awareness that insect symbionts can be interesting sources of biotechnological applications and that knowledge on insect ecology can guide targeted efforts to discover microorganisms of applied value.

Fitness costs of infection with Serratia symbiotica are associated with greater susceptibility to insecticides in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

“…Many groups of pest insects live in symbiosis with bacteria that may provide them with fitness benefits under specific ecological conditions, but there may also be severe costs that raise the question of how these symbiotic relationships are maintained over time. 7,55,56 The role these symbionts play in host resistance to chemical insecticides has received less attention, although they can be a source of metabolic innovations for their host insects. 25,28,57,58 There is growing evidence to support the involvement of insect-associated bacterial symbionts in detoxification of chemical insecticides, e.g.…”

The promises and challenges of research on plant–insect–microbe interactions

“…Understanding the full interplay of how each of these three partners manipulates and responds to the other two in such vectored plant disease systems is perhaps the biggest challenge of all (Webster et al, 2017;Zhou et al, 2017). On top of that, insect endosymbionts have been shown to affect the success of both vector and vectored disease (Tamborindeguy et al, 2017) and hence have become target for manipulation to limit vector-borne diseases (Berasategui et al, 2016). In general, the strong impacts of endosymbionts on nutritional requirements, digestive and detoxification abilities, stress protection, and ecological niche of their insect hosts (Skidmore & Hansen, 2017;Zhang et al, 2017) have spurred interest in how to manipulate them to increase the success of beneficial insects or reduce the performance of pest insects, another big challenge in the field.…”

“…In recent years, evidence has accumulated that microbes directly or indirectly influence plant–insect interactions at individual, population and community levels. Continuous discoveries on the diversity and roles of plant and insect‐associated microbial communities are stimulating the development of new pest control strategies such as those based on microbe‐mediated enhanced plant defenses (e.g., Gonzalez et al ., ) or disruption of insect–symbiont interactions (e.g., Berasategui et al ., ).…”

Similar gut bacterial microbiota in two fruit-feeding moth pests collected from different host species and locations

“…These microbes play important roles for their hosts, such as in the digestion and nutrient absorption of host food, protection against pathogens, and enhancement of immunity (3–5). The study of insect microorganisms can point to new approaches for the control of agricultural pests and human disease vectors as well as increasing the value of economically important insects, particularly by modifying the symbiotic relationship between symbionts and their hosts (6, 7).…”