title: Sex, offspring and carcass determine antimicrobial peptide expression in the burying beetle.
abstract: The burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides has emerged as a model system for the investigation of adaptations that allow the utilization of carrion as a diet and as a resource for reproduction. The survival of beetles and their offspring given their exposure to soil-dwelling and cadaver-borne microbes requires mechanisms that reduce bacterial contamination in the diet and that achieve sanitation of the microhabitat. To explore the role of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in this context, we analyzed burying beetle males and females at different stages of their breeding cycle using the RNA-Seq and proteomics approaches. To address variation in immune functions, we investigated the impact of adult sex, the presence or absence of offspring (social context), and the presence of carrion (environmental context) on the expression of the identified immune effector genes. We found that particular AMPs are sex-specific and tightly regulated by the presence of a carcass or offspring and identified the two most context-dependent antimicrobial proteins in anal secretions. The context-specific expression dynamics of particular AMPs and lysozymes reveals a complex regulatory system, reflecting adaptations to specific ecological niches. This study highlights how burying beetles cope with microorganisms found on carrion and identifies candidates for both internal and external immunity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Chris G C
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Genomics, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Steiger
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Heckel
authors.affiliation: Research Group Mass Spectrometry/Proteomics, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Natalie
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wielsch
authors.affiliation: Institute for Insect Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vilcinskas
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Vogel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D002102:Cadaver; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D040901:Proteomics; D012098:Reproduction / Q000235:genetics*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides