Antifeedants Produced by Bacteria Associated with the Gut of the Pine Weevil Hylobius abietis.

The pine weevil, Hylobius abietis, is a severe forest pest insect as it feeds on newly planted conifer seedlings. To identify and develop an antifeedant could be one step towards the protection of seedlings from feeding damage by the pine weevil. With the aim to trace the origin of the antifeedants previously found in feces of the pine weevil, we investigated the culturable bacteria associated with the gut and identified the volatiles they produced. Bacterial isolates were identified by 16S ribosomal RNA gene analysis. The volatile emissions of selected bacteria, cultivated on NB media or on the grated phloem of Scots pine twigs dispersed in water, were collected and analyzed by solid-phase microextraction gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The bacterial isolates released a variety of compounds, among others 2-methoxyphenol, 2-phenylethanol, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 1-octen-3-ol, 3-octanone, dimethyl disulfide, and dimethyl trisulfide. A strong antifeedant effect was observed by 2-phenylethanol, which could thus be a good candidate for use to protect planted conifer seedlings against feeding damage caused by H. abietis.

The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer-feeding beetles.

The pine weevil (Hylobius abietis, Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is an important pest of conifer seedlings in Europe. Despite its economic importance, little is known about the composition of its gut microbial community and the role it plays in mediating the weevil's ability to utilize conifers as a food source. Here, we characterized the gut bacterial communities of different populations of H. abietis across Europe and compared them to those of other beetles that occupy similar ecological niches. We demonstrate that the microbial community of H. abietis is similar at higher taxonomic levels (family and genus) across locations in Europe, with Wolbachia as the dominant microbe, followed by Enterobacteria and Firmicutes. Despite this similarity, we observed consistent differences between countries and locations, but not sexes. Our meta-analysis demonstrates that the gut bacterial community of the pine weevil is very similar to that of bark beetles that also exploit conifers as a food source. The Enterobacteriaceae symbionts of both host taxa are especially closely related phylogenetically. Conversely, the microbiota of H. abietis is distinct from that of closely related weevils feeding on nonconifer food sources, suggesting that the microbial community of the pine weevil is determined by the environment and may be relevant to host ecology. Furthermore, several H. abietis-associated members of the Enterobacteriaceae family are known to contain genes involved in terpenoid degradation. As such, we hypothesize that the gut microbial community is important for the utilization of conifer seedlings as a food source, either through the detoxification of plant secondary metabolites or through the supplementation of essential nutrients.

Fungal Symbionts of the Spruce Bark Beetle Synthesize the Beetle Aggregation Pheromone 2-Methyl-3-buten-2-ol.

Tree-killing bark beetles depend on aggregation pheromones to mass-attack their host trees and overwhelm their resistance. The beetles are always associated with phytopathogenic ophiostomatoid fungi that probably assist in breaking down tree resistance, but little is known about if or how much these fungal symbionts contribute to the beetles' aggregation behavior. In this study, we determined the ability of four major fungal symbionts of the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus to produce beetle aggregation pheromones. The fungi were incubated on Norway spruce Picea abies bark, malt agar, or malt agar amended with 0.5% (13)C glucose. Volatiles present in the headspace of each fungus were analyzed for 7 days after incubation using a SPME autosampler coupled to a GC/MS. Two Grosmannia species (G. penicillata and G. europhioides) produced large amounts of 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MB), the major component in the beetles' aggregation pheromone blend, when growing on spruce bark or malt agar. Grosmannia europhioides also incorporated (13)C glucose into MB, demonstrating that the fungi can synthesize MB de novo using glucose as a carbon source. This is the first clear evidence that fungal symbionts of bark beetles can produce components in the aggregation pheromone blend of their beetle vectors. This provides new insight into the possible ecological roles of fungal symbionts in bark beetle systems and may deepen our understanding of species interactions and coevolution in these important biological systems.