Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes

by Angela E. Douglas

Overview

A comprehensive overview of symbiotic relationships between insects and microbes

Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes is an authoritative and accessible synthesis of insect associations with beneficial microorganisms. Angela Douglas distills the vast literature in entomology and microbiology, as well as the burgeoning microbiome literature, to explore the full scope of insect-microbial interactions and their applications to real-world problems in agriculture and medicine.

Douglas investigates how insects acquire and support their microbial partners, and examines how microorganisms contribute to insect nutrition, the defense against natural enemies, and the detoxification of natural allelochemicals and chemical insecticides. She analyzes how beneficial microbes can be harnessed to solve real-world problems in insect pest management, including strategies to suppress the transmission of viruses and microbial disease agents by mosquitoes and other insects. She also addresses the use of insects as biomedical models for effective microbial therapies treating a range of chronic human diseases, and considers how knowledge of insect-microbial interactions can promote the health of beneficial insects, especially in the context of environmental pollutants and climate change.

Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes provides a much-needed conceptual framework for the growing discipline of insect-microbial interactions, and offers a wealth of insights into insect symbioses from molecular, physiological, ecological, and evolutionary perspectives.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691192406
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/02/2022
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Angela E. Douglas is the Emerita Daljit S. and Elaine Sarkaria Professor of Insect Physiology and Toxicology at Cornell University. Her books include Fundamentals of Microbiome Science and The Symbiotic Habit (both Princeton).

Table of Contents

Preface ix

1 Introduction: The Diversity of Insects and Their Microbial Symbionts 1

1.1 Naming the partners 2

1.2 Insect habitats for microorganisms 10

1.3 Insect associations with beneficial microorganisms 16

1.4 How this book is structured 19

2 The Diversity of Insect-Microbial Associations 23

2.1 Ectosymbioses 24

2.2 Gut symbioses 37

2.3 Endosymbioses 47

2.4 The dorsal organs of lagriine beetles 65

2.5 Summary 66

3 How Insects Acquire and Control Their Microbial Symbionts 69

3.1 Environmental microorganisms acquired by insects 70

3.2 Microbes acquired from other insects 80

3.3 Routes of horizontal transmission in microorganisms with high vertical transmission rates 92

3.4 The localization and abundance of endosymbionts in insects 96

3.5 Determinants of the composition of the insect gut microbiome 100

3.6 Microbial populations through host development 110

3.7 Summary 117

4 Microbial Services 119

4.1 Microbial degradation of complex biopolymers in the insect diet 120

4.2 Microbial contributions to insect nitrogen nutrition 132

4.3 B vitamin provisioning 150

4.4 Sterol provisioning 157

4.5 Microbial protection against natural enemies 160

4.6 Microbial detoxification of dietary toxins and insecticidal chemicals 170

4.7 Microorganisms and insect behavior 177

4.8 Microorganisms and insect tolerance of abiotic conditions 185

4.9 Summary 187

5 Harnessing Microbial Symbionts to Manage Insect Pests and Vectors of Disease 190

5.1 Native microorganisms 192

5.2 Heterologous microorganisms 205

5.3 Engineered microorganisms 215

5.4 Targeting required microbial symbionts and their interactions with the insect host 225

5.5 Outlook 228

5.6 Summary 232

6 The Insect Microbiome as a Biomedical Model 234

6.1 Insect model systems 235

6.2 The interface between the gut microbiota and the Drosophila gut 243

6.3 The gut microbiota and immune function 250

6.4 The gut microbiome and metabolic health 256

6.5 The gut microbiome, nervous system function, and behavior 261

6.6 Summary 270

7 Priorities for the Study of Insect-Microbial Associations 272

7.1 Reinvigorating the microbiology of insect-microbial associations 273

7.2 Modes of interaction between insects and microorganisms 276

7.3 Managing microbiomes for insect health 278

7.4 Concluding comments 281

References 283

Index 317

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“With its expansive scope, sound scholarship, and forward-thinking approach, Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes makes a significant addition to the field. Graduate and postgraduate researchers alike will benefit from the book’s conceptual and experimental framework.”—Hassan Salem, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology

Editorial Reviews

"[Insects and Their Beneficial Microbes] is no small undertaking. . . . This is a decades-overdue and much-needed overview of the diversity of insect-microbe associations."—-Alison Ravenscraft, Quarterly Review of Biology

From the Publisher