Bacterial Protection of Beetle-Fungus Mutualism

Host-microbe symbioses play a critical role in the evolution of biological diversity and complexity. In a notably intricate system, southern pine beetles use symbiotic fungi to help overcome host-tree defenses and to provide nutrition for their larvae. We show that this beetle-fungal mutualism is ch...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2008-10, Vol.322 (5898), p.63-63
Main Authors: Scott, Jarrod J, Oh, Dong-Chan, Yuceer, M. Cetin, Klepzig, Kier D, Clardy, Jon, Currie, Cameron R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acetates - chemistry
Acetates - metabolism
Acetates - pharmacology
Actinobacteria - isolation & purification
Actinobacteria - metabolism
Actinomycetes
Agaricus
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Antibiosis
Antifungal Agents - biosynthesis
Antifungal Agents - chemistry
Antifungal Agents - pharmacology
Ascomycota - physiology
Autoecology
Bacteria
Bark beetles
Basidiomycota - physiology
Beetles
Bioassay
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Evolution
Brevia
Coleoptera - growth & development
Coleoptera - microbiology
Coleoptera - physiology
Entomology
Evolutionary biology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Fungi
Larva - growth & development
Larva - microbiology
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Mutualism
Pathogens
Peroxides - chemistry
Peroxides - metabolism
Peroxides - pharmacology
Pinus - microbiology
Protozoa. Invertebrata
Symbiosis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Host-microbe symbioses play a critical role in the evolution of biological diversity and complexity. In a notably intricate system, southern pine beetles use symbiotic fungi to help overcome host-tree defenses and to provide nutrition for their larvae. We show that this beetle-fungal mutualism is chemically mediated by a bacterially produced polyunsaturated peroxide. The molecule's selective toxicity toward the beetle's fungal antagonist, combined with the prevalence and localization of its bacterial source, indicates an insect-microbe association that is both mutualistic and coevolved. This unexpected finding in a well-studied system indicates that mutualistic associations between insects and antibiotic-producing bacteria are more common than currently recognized and that identifying their small-molecule mediators can provide a powerful search strategy for therapeutically useful antimicrobial compounds.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1160423