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. 2016 Mar 24:9:176.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-016-1453-1.

Survival and immune response of the Chagas vector Meccus pallidipennis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) against two entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Isaria fumosorosea

A Laura Flores-Villegas  1 , Margarita Cabrera-Bravo  1 , Conchita Toriello  1 , Martha I Bucio-Torres  1 , Paz María Salazar-Schettino  2 , Alex Córdoba-Aguilar  3
Affiliations

Survival and immune response of the Chagas vector Meccus pallidipennis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) against two entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Isaria fumosorosea

A Laura Flores-Villegas et al. Parasit Vectors. .

Abstract

Background: Chagas disease is a key health problem in Latin America and is caused and transmitted by Trypanosoma cruzi and triatomine bugs, respectively. Control of triatomines has largely relied on the use pyrethroids, which has proved to be ineffective in the long term. Alternatively, the use of entomopathogenic fungi has been implemented to control triatomine bugs. These fungi are highly efficient as they induce a reduction in immune response on insects. Meccus pallidipennis is the main triatomine vector of Chagas disease in Mexico. In this work we investigated the effects of two entomopathogenic fungi, Metarhizium anisopliae and Isaria fumosorosea, on M. pallidipennis nymphs in terms of insect survival and immune response.

Methods: We had an infected and a control group for each fungal species and assessed: a) insect survival during 30 days; and, b) phenoloxidase (PO) and prophenoloxidase (proPO; two key traits in insect immune response) at 24, 48, 96 and 144 h. For survival we used Kaplan-Meier survival analysis while for immune response we used factorial, repeated-measures ANOVA for each fungal species.

Results: Animals treated with M. anisopliae died sooner than animals treated with I. fumosorosea. Infected animals showed lower PO and proPO values than sham individuals, with a clear decrease in these parameters at 24 h with no further changes after this time.

Conclusions: Our study widens the possibility of entomopathogenic fungi being used for triatomine control. The negative effect on PO and proPO seems mediated by a down-regulation of the triatomine immune response.

Keywords: Chagas disease; Entomopathogenic fungi; Meccus pallidipennis; Phenoloxidase; Prophenoloxidase; Survival.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Survival of fifth instar nymphs of Mccus pallidipennis infected with M. anisopliae (EH- 473/4), I. fumosorosea (EH- 511/3) and their control groups
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Fifth instar nymphs of M. pallidipennis infected with M. anisopliae (EH- 473/4; first row of pictures) and presence of fungal structures (second and third row) on the internal area of the cuticle along time. These fungal structures are shown as hyphal bodies, conidia and conidia columns (40×)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Fifth instar nymphs of M. pallidipennis infected with I. fumosorosea (EH- 511/3; first and second row) and presence of conidia (40×; second and fourth row) along time
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Microscopic and macroscopic features after fungal growth of samples recovered from nine nymphs infected with M. anisopliae (EH- 473/4; a, b) and Isaria fumosorosea (EH- 511/3; c, d)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
PO (a) and proPO (b) activity responses in fifth instar nymphs of M. pallidipennis infected with M. anisopliae (EH- 473/4) along time
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
PO (a) and proPO (b) activity responses in fifth instar nymphs of M. pallidipennis infected with I. fumosorosea (EH-511/3) along time
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