Attardo Geoffrey M, Benoit Joshua B, Michalkova Veronika, Kondragunta Alekhya, Baumann Aaron A, Weiss Brian L, Malacrida Anna, Scolari Francesca, Aksoy Serap
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA.
Department of Entomology and Nematology, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
iScience. 2023 Jun 12;26(7):107108. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.107108. eCollection 2023 Jul 21.
Lipid metabolism is critical for insect reproduction, especially for species that invest heavily in the early developmental stages of their offspring. The role of symbiotic bacteria during this process is understudied but likely essential. We examined the role of lipid metabolism during the interaction between the viviparous tsetse fly () and its obligate endosymbiotic bacteria () during tsetse pregnancy. We observed increased () expression during pregnancy, which is critical for phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis in the Kennedy pathway. Experimental removal of impaired lipid metabolism via disruption of the Kennedy pathway, yielding obese mothers whose developing progeny starve. Functional validation via experimental suppression revealed a phenotype similar to females lacking obligate symbionts. These results indicate that, in , symbiont-derived factors, likely B vitamins, are critical for the proper function of both lipid biosynthesis and lipolysis to maintain tsetse fly fecundity.
脂质代谢对昆虫繁殖至关重要，特别是对于那些在后代早期发育阶段投入巨大的物种。共生细菌在此过程中的作用研究较少，但可能至关重要。我们研究了胎生采采蝇（）与其专性内共生细菌（）在采采蝇孕期相互作用期间脂质代谢的作用。我们观察到孕期（）表达增加，这对肯尼迪途径中磷脂酰胆碱的生物合成至关重要。通过破坏肯尼迪途径实验性去除会损害脂质代谢，导致肥胖的母亲所怀发育中的后代挨饿。通过实验性抑制进行的功能验证揭示了一种类似于缺乏专性共生菌的雌性的表型。这些结果表明，在中，共生菌衍生的因子，可能是B族维生素，对于脂质生物合成和脂肪分解的正常功能以维持采采蝇的繁殖力至关重要。
