Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, UNAM, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, ENES Campus Morelia, Morelia, México; Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva, ENES, Unidad Morelia, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, No.8701. Col. Ex-Hacienda San José de la Huerta Código Postal 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México.
Laboratorio de Ecología Evolutiva, ENES, Unidad Morelia, UNAM, Antigua Carretera a Pátzcuaro, No.8701. Col. Ex-Hacienda San José de la Huerta Código Postal 58190, Morelia, Michoacán, México.
Microb Pathog. 2021 May;154:104844. doi: 10.1016/j.micpath.2021.104844. Epub 2021 Mar 7.
Although the study of immune priming in insects is a growing area of research, its occurrence in various biological models has not been evaluated, and its mechanisms are poorly understood. Whether entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) can induce immune priming and what role their virulence might play in it has not been assessed. Here, we tested for the first time: 1) whether a nematode is capable of eliciting immune priming, and 2) whether nematode virulence affects immune priming. Host larvae of Tenebrio molitor were first exposed to one of two EPN strains (low or high virulence). They were then exposed again to a challenge (high) dose of their respective strain, and their survival was recorded. Based on current literature, we expected that host larvae primed with a low-virulence strain would not show immune priming but that those exposed to a high-virulence strain would. Instead, we found that host larvae primed with either strain did not exhibit immune priming. Further, the survival of the hosts primed with the highly virulent strain was significantly reduced relative to the control group, and no measurable immune priming was found, as also indicated by resting metabolic rate (production of CO). Future research is needed to determine whether virulence-associated bacteria underlie this lowered survival and/or whether another factor, such as immune evasion strategies, is related to these results.
虽然昆虫免疫原性的研究是一个不断发展的研究领域，但尚未评估其在各种生物模型中的发生情况，其机制也知之甚少。是否昆虫病原线虫（EPN）能够诱导免疫原性，以及它们的毒力在其中可能扮演什么角色，尚未得到评估。在这里，我们首次测试了：1）线虫是否能够引发免疫原性，以及 2）线虫毒力是否会影响免疫原性。首先，将黄粉虫幼虫暴露于两种 EPN 菌株（低或高毒力）之一中。然后，它们再次暴露于各自菌株的高剂量挑战下，并记录它们的存活情况。根据目前的文献，我们预计用低毒力菌株进行免疫原性预处理的宿主幼虫不会表现出免疫原性，但用高毒力菌株进行免疫原性预处理的幼虫会表现出免疫原性。然而，我们发现用任何一种菌株进行免疫原性预处理的宿主幼虫都没有表现出免疫原性。此外，与对照组相比，用高毒力菌株进行免疫原性预处理的宿主幼虫的存活率显著降低，并且没有发现可测量的免疫原性，这也表明静息代谢率（CO 的产生）降低。需要进一步的研究来确定是否与毒力相关的细菌是导致这种存活率降低的原因，或者是否存在其他因素，如免疫逃避策略，与这些结果有关。
