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Abnormal increases in reactive oxygen species in dying insects infected with nematodes
Author(s) -
Tonogawa Urara,
Matsumura Takashi,
Ono Masaya,
Yoshiga Toyoshi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
archives of insect biochemistry and physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.576
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1520-6327
pISSN - 0739-4462
DOI - 10.1002/arch.21758
Subject(s) - galleria mellonella , biology , reactive oxygen species , antioxidant , nematode , ascorbic acid , larva , caenorhabditis elegans , oxidative stress , insect , catalase , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , food science , botany , ecology , virulence , gene
Stress enhances the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in animal plasma. Increased ROS alter various physiological functions, such as development and the immune response, but excessive increases could be harmful. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that abnormally increased plasma ROS levels are associated with animal death. Injection of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans into insect larvae caused high mortality in Galleria mellonella , and the plasma ROS concentration was four times higher than M9 buffer‐injected larvae. There was no difference in plasma antioxidant activity after nematode injection. However, coinjecting nematodes with an antioxidant (ascorbic acid or N ‐acetylcysteine) suppressed increases in ROS concentrations by the nematodes and increases in the number of nematodes in the larvae, which increased G. mellonella survival. These results suggest that the abnormal elevation of ROS associated with the stress caused by nematode propagation is lethal for G. mellonella .