Ascarosides coordinate the dispersal of a plant-parasitic nematode with the metamorphosis of its vector beetle

Lilin Zhao, Xinxing Zhang, Yanan Wei, Jiao Zhou, Wei Zhang, Peijun Qin, Satya Chinta, Xiangbo Kong, Yunpeng Liu, Haiying Yu, Songnian Hu, Zhen Zou (), Rebecca A. Butcher () and Jianghua Sun ()
Additional contact information
Lilin Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xinxing Zhang: University of Florida
Yanan Wei: Northeast Forestry University
Jiao Zhou: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Wei Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peijun Qin: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Satya Chinta: University of Florida
Xiangbo Kong: The Research Institute of Forest Ecology, Environment and Protection, The Chinese Academy of Forestry
Yunpeng Liu: Forestry Academy of Jiangsu Province
Haiying Yu: CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Songnian Hu: CAS Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information, Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Zhen Zou: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rebecca A. Butcher: University of Florida
Jianghua Sun: State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Insect vectors are required for the transmission of many species of parasitic nematodes, but the mechanisms by which the vectors and nematodes coordinate their life cycles are poorly understood. Here, we report that ascarosides, an evolutionarily conserved family of nematode pheromones, are produced not only by a plant-parasitic nematode, but also by its vector beetle. The pinewood nematode and its vector beetle cause pine wilt disease, which threatens forest ecosystems world-wide. Ascarosides secreted by the dispersal third-stage nematode LIII larvae promote beetle pupation by inducing ecdysone production in the beetle and up-regulating ecdysone-dependent gene expression. Once the beetle develops into the adult stage, it secretes ascarosides that attract the dispersal fourth-stage nematode LIV larvae, potentially facilitating their movement into the beetle trachea for transport to the next pine tree. These results demonstrate that ascarosides play a key role in the survival and spread of pine wilt disease.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms12341 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12341

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12341

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().