Peng Lijia, Yuan Bo, Song Jiqiang, Wang Fang, Fang Qi, Yao Hongwei, Ye Gongyin
State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insect Pests, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Biology and Ecological Regulation of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Insects. 2025 Aug 19;16(8):863. doi: 10.3390/insects16080863.
The pupal endoparasitoid injects venom into its host during oviposition, yet knowledge about the venom remains limited. This study explores how parasitism and venom from impair the host's cellular and humoral immunity. At 12-24 h post-parasitization, parasitized pupae had significantly lower total hemocyte counts and also exhibited higher mortality than non-parasitized controls. The proportion of plasmatocytes decreased, while the percentage of granulocytes increased. Parasitism also suppressed hemocyte spreading, with no significant difference in melanization between parasitized and control groups. Venom treatment significantly inhibited hemocyte spreading and increased cell mortality. Notably, venom-exposed hemocytes showed elevated reactive oxygen species levels and calcium ion concentrations, along with a significant decrease in mitochondrial membrane potential, while caspase 3 activity remained unchanged. These results suggest that both parasitism and its venom suppress the cellular immunity of and have strong hemocytotoxic effects. The findings emphasize the role of venom in disrupting host defenses for the development of parasitoid offspring.
蛹内寄生蜂在产卵时会将毒液注入宿主，然而关于这种毒液的知识仍然有限。本研究探讨了寄生和毒液如何损害宿主的细胞免疫和体液免疫。在寄生后12 - 24小时，被寄生的蛹总血细胞计数显著降低，死亡率也高于未被寄生的对照组。浆血细胞的比例下降，而粒细胞的百分比增加。寄生还抑制了血细胞的铺展，被寄生组和对照组之间的黑化作用没有显著差异。毒液处理显著抑制了血细胞铺展并增加了细胞死亡率。值得注意的是，暴露于毒液的血细胞活性氧水平和钙离子浓度升高，线粒体膜电位显著降低，而半胱天冬酶3活性保持不变。这些结果表明，寄生及其毒液均抑制了[宿主名称]的细胞免疫并具有很强的血细胞毒性作用。这些发现强调了毒液在破坏宿主防御以促进寄生蜂后代发育中的作用。
