Abstract
We provide insights into how the interactions of two entomopathogenic fungi and a virus play a role in virulence, disease development, and pathogen reproduction for an economically important insect crop pest, the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Fabricius) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae). In our model system, we highlight the antagonistic effects of the co-inoculation of Beauveria bassiana and granulovirus (DisaGV) on virulence, compared to their single counterparts. By contrast, combinations of Metarhizium anisopliae and B. bassiana, or M. anisopliae and DisaGV, have resulted in additive effects against the insect. Intriguingly, most cadavers that were derived from dual or triple infections, produced signs/symptoms of only one species after the death of the infected host. In the combination of fungi and DisaGV, there was a trend where a higher proportion of viral infection bearing conspicuous symptoms occurred, except when the larvae were inoculated with M. anisopliae and DisaGV at the two highest inoculum rates. Co-infections with B. bassiana and M. anisopliae did not affect pathogen reproduction, since the sporulation from co-inoculated larvae did not differ from their single counterparts.
Highlights
In nature, infections involving several different categories of invertebrate pathogens may take place in the same invertebrate host and may, through their function, regulate the host population [1,2].Such interactions allow for studies of a variety of intriguing interactions [3,4,5,6,7].Hosts represent limited resources; the occurrence of dual or multiple infections leads to within-host competition between invertebrate pathogens [8]
Within-host competition between multiple insect pathogens is complex and the outcomes will depend on numerous biological aspects, including the pathogen mode of action, pathogen degree of virulence, pathogen genotype, host age and life stage, host genotype, host carrying capacity, and environmental abiotic conditions
Sugarcane borer caterpillars that were exposed to mixtures of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana, M. anisopliae and Diatraea saccharalis granulovirus (DisaGV), and M. anisopliae and B. bassiana and DisaGV, exhibited considerably higher mortality rates with the interaction being additive, whilst antagonism was scored when mixing together B. bassiana and DisaGV that corresponded to lower virulence factors than their counterparts applied individually
Summary
Infections involving several different categories of invertebrate pathogens may take place in the same invertebrate host and may, through their function, regulate the host population [1,2].Such interactions allow for studies of a variety of intriguing interactions [3,4,5,6,7].Hosts represent limited resources; the occurrence of dual or multiple infections leads to within-host competition between invertebrate pathogens [8]. Infections involving several different categories of invertebrate pathogens may take place in the same invertebrate host and may, through their function, regulate the host population [1,2]. Such interactions allow for studies of a variety of intriguing interactions [3,4,5,6,7]. Within-host competition between multiple insect pathogens is complex and the outcomes will depend on numerous biological aspects, including the pathogen mode of action, pathogen degree of virulence, pathogen genotype, host age and life stage, host genotype, host carrying capacity, and environmental abiotic conditions. Pathogen interaction outcomes are mostly linked with an increase or a decrease in virulence of one of the involved pathogens [8,13]
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