Identification and contribution of bacterial community associated with Diatraea saccharalis and Spodoptera frugiperda intestinal tract in these insects PHYTOPHAGY

• Grant number: 11/18699-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): January 01, 2012
• Effective date (End): July 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Molecular Genetics and Genetics of Microorganisms
• Principal Investigator: Márcio de Castro Silva Filho
• Grantee: Poliene Martins Costa
• Host Institution: Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The symbiotic relationship between insects and bacteria from the intestinal tract have been studied extensively in some systems, such as termites and aphids. However, little is known about the microbial associations in Lepidoptera, one of the orders that includes the majority of phytophagous insects, responsible for the major agricultural losses. Some authors suggest that the bacterial community of the lepidoptera caterpillar are involved in important biochemical reactions related to food digestion in the insect. Others suppose that the microbiota favors lepidoptera adaptation to plant proteinase inhibitors. For that reason, one objective of this work concerns the identification of the bacterial community associated with the intestinal tract of the insects Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) from the field and reared on artificial diets in the laboratory, using the PCR-RFLP and phylogenetic 16S rRNA gene analysis. The other objective will be based in the preparation of biological assays in the presence and absence of plant proteinase inhibitors and antibiotics with each insect species to verify if the gut proteinases come from the insects or the resident microbiota. Finally, the last one is to measure the temporal expression of genes encoding the trypsin and chymotrypsin proteinases in order to verify that the microbiota affects the adaptive herbivory mechanisms of D. saccharalis and S. frugiperda. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

COSTA, Poliene Martins. Characterization of bacterial community associated to Spodoptera frugiperda intestinal tract from different diets. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (ESALA/BC) Piracicaba.