title: Inhibition of microorganisms on a carrion breeding resource: the antimicrobial peptide activity of burying beetle (Coleoptera: Silphidae) oral and anal secretions.
abstract: Competition between scavengers and microorganisms for the nutrients within carrion is well documented. As a significant contributor to food web energetics, carrion serves not only as a food source for scavengers, but also as a reproductive resource for many insects. One example are  the burying beetles of the Nicrophorus genus (Coleoptera: Silphidae) whose reproduction is dependent on locating and successfully sequestering vertebrate carrion. Throughout the cooperative preparation of carrion and feeding of the larval offspring, parental beetles coat the carrion with oral  and anal secretions known to attenuate the growth of molds and bacteria in the laboratory. We test the hypotheses that Nicrophorus secretions attenuate the growth of naturally occurring microorganisms likely to be found colonizing the carrion resource, and that the active antimicrobial components  of the secretions are small antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) similar to those produced by other insects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Idaho State University, Pocatello, ID 83209, USA. carrie.hall@augie.edu
authors.forename: Carrie L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hall
authors.forename: Nicholas K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Wadsworth
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Howard
authors.forename: Eleanor M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.forename: Larry D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Farrell
authors.forename: Timothy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Magnuson
authors.forename: Rosemary J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012634:Bodily Secretions / Q000737:chemistry*; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D057057:Serine Proteases; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D057057:Serine Proteases