Herren, P. orcid.org/0000-0002-8358-9636, Dunn, A.M. orcid.org/0000-0002-4855-1077, Meyling, N.V. orcid.org/0000-0003-3025-4370 et al. (2 more authors) (2024) Effect of CO2 Concentrations on Entomopathogen Fitness and Insect-Pathogen Interactions. Microbial Ecology, 87 (1). 34. ISSN 0095-3628
Abstract
Numerous insect species and their associated microbial pathogens are exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations in both artificial and natural environments. However, the impacts of elevated CO2 on the fitness of these pathogens and the susceptibility of insects to pathogen infections are not well understood. The yellow mealworm, Tenebrio molitor, is commonly produced for food and feed purposes in mass-rearing systems, which increases risk of pathogen infections. Additionally, entomopathogens are used to control T. molitor, which is also a pest of stored grains. It is therefore important to understand how elevated CO2 may affect both the pathogen directly and impact on host-pathogen interactions. We demonstrate that elevated CO2 concentrations reduced the viability and persistence of the spores of the bacterial pathogen Bacillus thuringiensis. In contrast, conidia of the fungal pathogen Metarhizium brunneum germinated faster under elevated CO2. Pre-exposure of the two pathogens to elevated CO2 prior to host infection did not affect the survival probability of T. molitor larvae. However, larvae reared at elevated CO2 concentrations were less susceptible to both pathogens compared to larvae reared at ambient CO2 concentrations. Our findings indicate that whilst elevated CO2 concentrations may be beneficial in reducing host susceptibility in mass-rearing systems, they may potentially reduce the efficacy of the tested entomopathogens when used as biological control agents of T. molitor larvae. We conclude that CO2 concentrations should be carefully selected and monitored as an additional environmental factor in laboratory experiments investigating insect-pathogen interactions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Keywords: | Bacillus thuringiensis; Biocontrol; Host-pathogen Interactions; Insect Culture; Metarhizium brunneum; Tenebrio molitor |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Feb 2024 14:08 |
Last Modified: | 11 Sep 2024 16:21 |
Published Version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00248-024-02347-6 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/s00248-024-02347-6 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:208842 |