Immune modulation enables a specialist insect to benefit from antibacterial 
withanolides in its host plant

Barthel, Andrea; Vogel, Heiko; Pauchet, Yannick; Pauls, Gerhard; Kunert, Grit; Groot, Astrid T.; Boland, Wilhelm; Heckel, David G.; Heidel-Fischer, Hanna M.

doi:10.1038/ncomms12530

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Immune modulation enables a specialist insect to benefit from antibacterial withanolides in its host plant

MPS-Authors

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Barthel, Andrea
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;
IMPRS on Ecological Interactions, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Vogel, Heiko
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Pauchet, Yannick
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Pauls, Gerhard
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Prof. Dr. W. Boland, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;
IMPRS on Ecological Interactions, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Kunert, Grit
Statistical Service, Dr. Grit Kunert, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Groot, Astrid T.
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Boland, Wilhelm
Department of Bioorganic Chemistry, Prof. Dr. W. Boland, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Heckel, David G.
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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Heidel-Fischer, Hanna M.
Department of Entomology, Prof. D. G. Heckel, MPI for Chemical Ecology, Max Planck Society;

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12530
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HEC346.pdf
(Publisher version), 773KB

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HEC346s1.pdf
(Supplementary material), 2MB

HEC346s2.xlsx
(Supplementary material), 23KB

Citation

Barthel, A., Vogel, H., Pauchet, Y., Pauls, G., Kunert, G., Groot, A. T., et al. (2016). Immune modulation enables a specialist insect to benefit from antibacterial withanolides in its host plant. Nature Communications, 7: 12530. doi:10.1038/ncomms12530.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-002B-3277-9

Abstract

The development of novel plant chemical defenses and counter adaptations by herbivorous insect could continually drive speciation, producing more insect specialists than generalists. One approach to test this hypothesis is to compare closely related generalist and specialist species to reveal the associated costs and benefits of these different adaptive strategies. We use the specialized moth Heliothis subflexa, which feeds exclusively on plants in the genus Physalis, and its close generalist relative H. virescens. Specialization on Physalis plants necessitates the ability to tolerate withanolides, the secondary metabolites of Physalis species that are known to have feeding deterrent and immune inhibiting properties for other insects. Here we find that only H. subflexa benefits from the antibacterial properties of withanolides, and thereby gains a higher tolerance of the pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. We argue that the specialization in H. subflexa has been guided to a large extent by a unique role of plant chemistry on ecological immunology.