Beetles rely on unique ‘back pockets' to keep bacterial symbionts safe during metamorphosis
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Loading... - Gracebianca Nya
- 05 Oct 2022
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Researchers show that beetles in the genus Lagria have evolved unique ‘back pockets’ on their larvae and pupae to house bacterial symbionts, which protect the immature life stages against fungi. But in adult females, the symbionts exclusively occur in the accessory glands, next to the oviduct, from where they are deposited onto eggs. When the adult beetles emerge, friction shuffles the symbionts out of the pockets and backwards to the genital area. They then colonize the accessory glands by an unknown mechanism.
Beetles of the genus Lagria need a little help from their bacterial friends throughout their immature life stages. But keeping them in the same spot throughout life isn’t feasible. This is because beetles are holometabolous insects, which undergo an overall bodily reorganization (metamorphosis) as pupae.
Here, scientists show for the first time that the beetles have evolved an ingenious solution to this problem: female pupae keep their symbiotic bacteria in specialized pockets on their back. When they emerge as adults, they shuffle the bacteria out of these pockets, backwards and then on into their genital area. These results are published in Frontiers in Physiology. Read More...
