Inhaltszusammenfassung

Detrimental microbes caused the evolution of a great diversity of antimicrobial defenses in plants and animals. Insects developing underground seem particularly threatened. Here we show that the the eggs of a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf Philanthus triangulum, emit large amounts of of gaseous nitric oxide (NO⋅) to protect themselves and their provisions, paralyzed honeybees, against against mold fungi. We provide evidence that a NO-synthase (NOS) is involved in the generation of...Detrimental microbes caused the evolution of a great diversity of antimicrobial defenses in plants and animals. Insects developing underground seem particularly threatened. Here we show that the the eggs of a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf Philanthus triangulum, emit large amounts of of gaseous nitric oxide (NO⋅) to protect themselves and their provisions, paralyzed honeybees, against against mold fungi. We provide evidence that a NO-synthase (NOS) is involved in the generation of the the extraordinary concentrations of nitrogen radicals in brood cells (~1500 ppm NO⋅ and its oxidation oxidation product NO2⋅). Sequencing of the beewolf NOS gene revealed no conspicuous differences to related related species. However, due to alternative splicing, the NOS-mRNA in beewolf eggs lacks an exon near near the regulatory domain. This preventive external application of high doses of NO⋅ by wasp eggs represents represents an evolutionary key innovation that adds a remarkable novel facet to the array of functions functions of the important biological effector NO⋅.» weiterlesen» einklappen

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DDC Sachgruppe:
Paläontologie