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Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation?
Paper wasps (Polistes dominula), parasitized by the strepsipteran Xenos vesparum, are castrated and desert the colony to gather on plants where the parasite mates and releases primary larvae, thus completing its lifecycle. One of these plants is the trumpet creeper Campsis radicans: in a previous st...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7743958/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33326432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242486 |
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author | Beani, Laura Mariotti Lippi, Marta Mulinacci, Nadia Manfredini, Fabio Cecchi, Lorenzo Giuliani, Claudia Tani, Corrado Meriggi, Niccolò Cavalieri, Duccio Cappa, Federico |
author_facet | Beani, Laura Mariotti Lippi, Marta Mulinacci, Nadia Manfredini, Fabio Cecchi, Lorenzo Giuliani, Claudia Tani, Corrado Meriggi, Niccolò Cavalieri, Duccio Cappa, Federico |
author_sort | Beani, Laura |
collection | PubMed |
description | Paper wasps (Polistes dominula), parasitized by the strepsipteran Xenos vesparum, are castrated and desert the colony to gather on plants where the parasite mates and releases primary larvae, thus completing its lifecycle. One of these plants is the trumpet creeper Campsis radicans: in a previous study the majority of all wasps collected from this plant were parasitized and focused their foraging activity on C. radicans buds. The unexpected prevalence and unusual feeding strategy prompted us to investigate the influence of this plant on wasp behavior and physiology through a multidisciplinary approach. First, in a series of laboratory bioassays, we observed that parasitized wasps spent more time than non-parasitized ones on fresh C. radicans buds, rich of extra-floral nectaries (EFNs), while the same wasps ignored treated buds that lacked nectar drops. Then, we described the structure and ultra-structure of EFNs secreting cells, compatible with the synthesis of phenolic compounds. Subsequently, we analysed extracts from different bud tissues by HPLC-DAD-MS and found that verbascoside was the most abundant bioactive molecule in those tissues rich in EFNs. Finally, we tested the immune-stimulant properties of verbascoside, as the biochemical nature of this compound indicates it might function as an antibacterial and antioxidant. We measured bacterial clearance in wasps, as a proxy for overall immune competence, and observed that it was enhanced after administration of verbascoside—even more so if the wasp was parasitized. We hypothesize that the parasite manipulates wasp behavior to preferentially feed on C. radicans EFNs, since the bioactive properties of verbascoside likely increase host survival and thus the parasite own fitness. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7743958 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-77439582020-12-31 Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? Beani, Laura Mariotti Lippi, Marta Mulinacci, Nadia Manfredini, Fabio Cecchi, Lorenzo Giuliani, Claudia Tani, Corrado Meriggi, Niccolò Cavalieri, Duccio Cappa, Federico PLoS One Research Article Paper wasps (Polistes dominula), parasitized by the strepsipteran Xenos vesparum, are castrated and desert the colony to gather on plants where the parasite mates and releases primary larvae, thus completing its lifecycle. One of these plants is the trumpet creeper Campsis radicans: in a previous study the majority of all wasps collected from this plant were parasitized and focused their foraging activity on C. radicans buds. The unexpected prevalence and unusual feeding strategy prompted us to investigate the influence of this plant on wasp behavior and physiology through a multidisciplinary approach. First, in a series of laboratory bioassays, we observed that parasitized wasps spent more time than non-parasitized ones on fresh C. radicans buds, rich of extra-floral nectaries (EFNs), while the same wasps ignored treated buds that lacked nectar drops. Then, we described the structure and ultra-structure of EFNs secreting cells, compatible with the synthesis of phenolic compounds. Subsequently, we analysed extracts from different bud tissues by HPLC-DAD-MS and found that verbascoside was the most abundant bioactive molecule in those tissues rich in EFNs. Finally, we tested the immune-stimulant properties of verbascoside, as the biochemical nature of this compound indicates it might function as an antibacterial and antioxidant. We measured bacterial clearance in wasps, as a proxy for overall immune competence, and observed that it was enhanced after administration of verbascoside—even more so if the wasp was parasitized. We hypothesize that the parasite manipulates wasp behavior to preferentially feed on C. radicans EFNs, since the bioactive properties of verbascoside likely increase host survival and thus the parasite own fitness. Public Library of Science 2020-12-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7743958/ /pubmed/33326432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242486 Text en © 2020 Beani et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Beani, Laura Mariotti Lippi, Marta Mulinacci, Nadia Manfredini, Fabio Cecchi, Lorenzo Giuliani, Claudia Tani, Corrado Meriggi, Niccolò Cavalieri, Duccio Cappa, Federico Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title | Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title_full | Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title_fullStr | Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title_full_unstemmed | Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title_short | Altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: A case of parasite manipulation? |
title_sort | altered feeding behavior and immune competence in paper wasps: a case of parasite manipulation? |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7743958/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33326432 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0242486 |
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