Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?

Baculoviruses manipulate insect larval behaviour by inducing increased activity and by enhancing the movement to the top of the host plant. The Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpliNPV) may have a large impact on larval populations and is currently used as a control method. Dispersal o...

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Autor principal: Matsumoto, Saki
Formato: M2
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: SLU/Dept. of Biosystems and Technology (from 130101) 2015
Materias:
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author Matsumoto, Saki
author_browse Matsumoto, Saki
author_facet Matsumoto, Saki
author_sort Matsumoto, Saki
collection Epsilon Archive for Student Projects
description Baculoviruses manipulate insect larval behaviour by inducing increased activity and by enhancing the movement to the top of the host plant. The Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpliNPV) may have a large impact on larval populations and is currently used as a control method. Dispersal of NPVs is fairly limited since foliage or infected larvae need to be ingested for transmission. S. littoralis is cannibalistic under high population densities or low food availability conditions. We hypothesized that healthy larvae recognize and are attracted to virus-infected cadavers. Dual choice experiments in petri dish arenas, involving infected and uninfected larval cadaver suspensions revealed no significant differences in neonate larval attraction. In contrast, fourth instar larvae fed significantly more on infected larval cadavers than on cadavers of uninfected larvae. Although mortality of larvae that fed on infected cadavers was increased, high mortality in both groups suggests vertical transmission of the virus in this species. Our results show that that virus-killed cadavers increase attraction and feeding by healthy larvae. Consumption of conspecific cadavers increases viral dissemination. Our results suggest that larvae killed by NPV infection emit chemical cues, which make them more attractive to conspecific larvae, thereby promoting in viral transmission.
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institution Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
language Inglés
publishDate 2015
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spelling RepoSLU86862015-12-18T14:16:51Z Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics? Dödlig attraktion : lockas friska bomullsflylarver till virusinfekterade larvkadaver? Matsumoto, Saki Spodoptera littoralis cannibalism necrophagy nucleopolyhedrovirus horizontal transmission Baculovirus Baculoviruses manipulate insect larval behaviour by inducing increased activity and by enhancing the movement to the top of the host plant. The Spodoptera littoralis nucleopolyhedrovirus (SpliNPV) may have a large impact on larval populations and is currently used as a control method. Dispersal of NPVs is fairly limited since foliage or infected larvae need to be ingested for transmission. S. littoralis is cannibalistic under high population densities or low food availability conditions. We hypothesized that healthy larvae recognize and are attracted to virus-infected cadavers. Dual choice experiments in petri dish arenas, involving infected and uninfected larval cadaver suspensions revealed no significant differences in neonate larval attraction. In contrast, fourth instar larvae fed significantly more on infected larval cadavers than on cadavers of uninfected larvae. Although mortality of larvae that fed on infected cadavers was increased, high mortality in both groups suggests vertical transmission of the virus in this species. Our results show that that virus-killed cadavers increase attraction and feeding by healthy larvae. Consumption of conspecific cadavers increases viral dissemination. Our results suggest that larvae killed by NPV infection emit chemical cues, which make them more attractive to conspecific larvae, thereby promoting in viral transmission. SLU/Dept. of Biosystems and Technology (from 130101) 2015 M2 eng https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/8686/
spellingShingle Spodoptera littoralis
cannibalism
necrophagy
nucleopolyhedrovirus
horizontal transmission
Baculovirus
Matsumoto, Saki
Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title_full Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title_fullStr Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title_full_unstemmed Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title_short Fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of Spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
title_sort fatal attraction : do virus-infected cadavers of spodoptera littoralis larvae attract healthy conspecifics?
topic Spodoptera littoralis
cannibalism
necrophagy
nucleopolyhedrovirus
horizontal transmission
Baculovirus