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Metarhizium anisopliae Pathogenesis of Mosquito Larvae: A Verdict of Accidental Death
,
Bethany P. J. Greenfield,
Carolyn Greig,
Thierry Maffeis ,
James W. D. Taylor,
Justyna Piasecka,
Ed Dudley,
Ahmed Abdulla,
Ivan M. Dubovskiy,
Inmaculada Garrido-Jurado,
Enrique Quesada-Moraga,
Mark W. Penny,
Daniel C. Eastwood,
Dan Eastwood
PLoS ONE, Volume: 8, Issue: 12, Start page: e81686
Swansea University Authors:
Tariq Butt , Carolyn Greig, Thierry Maffeis , Ed Dudley, Dan Eastwood
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C 2013 Butt et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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DOI (Published version): 10.1371/journal.pone.0081686
Abstract
Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungal pathogen of terrestrial arthropods, kills the aquatic larvae of Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue and yellow fever. The fungus kills without adhering to the host cuticle. Ingested conidia also fail to germinate and are expelled in fecal pellets. This study investig...
| Published in: | PLoS ONE |
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| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Published: |
2013
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa30740 |
| Abstract: |
Metarhizium anisopliae, a fungal pathogen of terrestrial arthropods, kills the aquatic larvae of Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue and yellow fever. The fungus kills without adhering to the host cuticle. Ingested conidia also fail to germinate and are expelled in fecal pellets. This study investigates the mechanism by which this fungus adapted to terrestrial hosts kills aquatic mosquito larvae. Genes associated with the M. anisopliae early pathogenic response (proteinases Pr1 and Pr2, and adhesins, Mad1 and Mad2) are upregulated in the presence of larvae, but the established infection process observed in terrestrial hosts does not progress and insecticidal destruxins were not detected. Protease inhibitors reduce larval mortality indicating the importance of proteases in the host interaction. The Ae. aegypti immune response to M. anisopliae appears limited, whilst the oxidative stress response gene encoding for thiol peroxidase is upregulated. Cecropin and Hsp70 genes are downregulated as larval death occurs, and insect mortality appears to be linked to autolysis through caspase activity regulated by Hsp70 and inhibited, in infected larvae, by protease inhibitors. Evidence is presented that a traditional host-pathogen response does not occur as the species have not evolved to interact. M. anisopliae retains pre-formed pathogenic determinants which mediate host mortality, but unlike true aquatic fungal pathogens, does not recognise and colonise the larval host. |
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| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Issue: |
12 |
| Start Page: |
e81686 |