8 / 20
Page 23
Notes:
allied
academies
J Parasit Dis Diagn Ther 2017 | Volume 2 Issue 4
International Conference on
Zoology, Microbiology & Medical Parasitology
October 30-November 01, 2017 | Chicago, USA
Bacterial volatile ammonia regulates the consumption sequence of D-pinitol and D-glucose in a fungus
associated with an invasive bark beetle
Min Lu
Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
I
nteractions among microbial symbionts have multiple roles
in the maintenance of insect–microbe symbiosis. However,
signals mediating microbial interactions have been scarcely
studied. In the classical model system of bark beetles and
fungal associates, fungi increase the fitness of insects.
However, not all interactions are mutualistic some of these
fungal symbionts compete for sugars with beetle larvae. How
this antagonistic effect is alleviated is unknown, and recent
research suggests potential roles of bacterial symbionts.
Red turpentine beetle (RTB), dendroctonus valens LeConte,
is an invasive pest in China, and it leads to wide spread,
catastrophic mortality to Chinese pines. In the symbiotic
system formed by RTB, fungi and bacteria, volatiles from
predominant bacteria regulate the consumption sequence
of carbon sources D-pinitol and D-glucose in the fungal
symbiont Leptographium procerum, and appear to alleviate
the antagonistic effect from the fungus against RTB larvae.
However, active components of these volatiles are unknown.
We detected 67 volatiles by gas chromatography-mass
spectrometer (GC-MS). Seven of them were identified as
candidate chemicals mediating bacteria-fungus interactions,
among which ammonia made L. procerum consume its
secondary carbon source D-pinitol instead of its preferred
carbohydrate D-glucose. In conclusion, ammonia regulated
the consumption sequence of these two carbon sources in
the fungal symbiont.
Speaker Biography
Min Lu is a Professor at the Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences
(CAS). He received his PhD in Ecology from Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of
Sciences, China, and held a postdoctoral fellow from 2008-2009 in FABI in University
of Pretoria, South Africa, and then an Associate Professor position from 2011-2015 at
the Institute of Zoology, CAS. His research includes forest protection, invasion biology,
and microbial ecology. He made great achievements in the scientific research of the
invasive mechanism of insect-microbial symbiosis, and published more than 20 SCI
papers in
Ecology
, the ISME
Journal
and
Annual Review of Ecology
,
Evolution
and
Systematics
etc.
e:
lumin@ioz.ac.cn