Skip to Main Content
U.S. Forest Service
Caring for the land and serving people

United States Department of Agriculture

Home > Search > Publication Information

  1. Physiological responses of emerald ash borer larvae to feeding on different ash species reveal putative resistance mechanisms and insect counter-adaptations

    Share via EmailShare on FacebookShare on LinkedInShare on Twitter
    Dislike this pubLike this pub
    Author(s): C.M. Rigsby; D.N. Showalter; D.A. Herms; J.L. Koch; P. Bonello; D. Cipollini
    Date: 2015
    Source: Journal of Insect Physiology. 78: 47-54.
    Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
    Station: Northern Research Station
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2015.05.001
    PDF: View PDF  (618.47 KB)

    Description

    Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire, an Asian wood-boring beetle, has devastated ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees in North American forests and landscapes since its discovery there in 2002. In this study, we collected living larvae from EAB-resistant Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandschurica), and susceptible white (Fraxinus americana) and green (Fraxinus pennsylvanica) ash hosts, and quantified the activity and production of selected detoxification, digestive, and antioxidant enzymes. We hypothesized that differences in larval physiology could be used to infer resistance mechanisms of ash. We found no differences in cytochrome P450, glutathione-S-transferase, carboxylesterase, sulfotransferase, and tryptic BApNAase activities between larvae feeding on different hosts. Despite this, Manchurian ash-fed larvae produced a single isozyme of low electrophoretic mobility that was not produced in white or green ash-fed larvae. Additionally, larvae feeding on white and green ash produced two serine protease isozymes of high electrophoretic mobility that were not observed in Manchurian ash-fed larvae. We also found lower activity of ß-glucosidase and higher activities of monoamine oxidase, ortho-quinone reductase, catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione reductase in Manchurian ash-fed larvae compared to larvae that had fed on susceptible ash. A single isozyme was detected for both catalase and superoxide dismutase in all larval groups. The activities of the quinone-protective and antioxidant enzymes are consistent with the resistance phenotype of the host species, with the highest activities measured in larvae feeding on resistant Manchurian ash. We conclude that larvae feeding on Manchurian ash could be under quinone and oxidative stress, suggesting these may be potential mechanisms of resistance of Manchurian ash to EAB larvae, and that quinone-protective and antioxidant enzymes are important counter-adaptations of larvae for dealing with these resistance mechanisms.

    Publication Notes

    • Check the Northern Research Station web site to request a printed copy of this publication.
    • Our on-line publications are scanned and captured using Adobe Acrobat.
    • During the capture process some typographical errors may occur.
    • Please contact Sharon Hobrla, shobrla@fs.fed.us if you notice any errors which make this publication unusable.
    • We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
    • This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.

    Citation

    Rigsby, C.M.; Showalter, D.N.; Herms, D.A.; Koch, J.L.; Bonello, P.; Cipollini, D. 2015. Physiological responses of emerald ash borer larvae to feeding on different ash species reveal putative resistance mechanisms and insect counter-adaptations. Journal of Insect Physiology. 78: 47-54.

    Cited

    Google Scholar

    Keywords

    Adaptations to host defense, Wood-boring insects, Oxidative stress, Antioxidant enzymes, Detoxification, Host plant resistance

    Related Search

    XML: View XML
Show More
Show Fewer
Jump to Top of Page
https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/49726