Insect endosymbiont proliferation is limited by lipid availability

Herren, J. K. , Paredes, J. C., Schüpfer, F., Arafah, K., Bulet, P. and Lemaitre, B. (2014) Insect endosymbiont proliferation is limited by lipid availability. eLife, 3, e02964. (doi: 10.7554/eLife.02964) (PMID:25027439) (PMCID:PMC4123717)

Abstract

Spiroplasma poulsonii is a maternally transmitted bacterial endosymbiont that is naturally associated with Drosophila melanogaster. S. poulsonii resides extracellularly in the hemolymph, where it must acquire metabolites to sustain proliferation. In this study, we find that Spiroplasma proliferation specifically depletes host hemolymph diacylglyceride, the major lipid class transported by the lipoprotein, Lpp. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Lpp expression, which reduces the amount of circulating lipids, inhibits Spiroplasma proliferation demonstrating that bacterial proliferation requires hemolymph-lipids. Altogether, our study shows that an insect endosymbiont acquires specific lipidic metabolites from the transport lipoproteins in the hemolymph of its host. In addition, we show that the proliferation of this endosymbiont is limited by the availability of hemolymph lipids. This feature could limit endosymbiont over-proliferation under conditions of host nutrient limitation as lipid availability is strongly influenced by the nutritional state.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Herren, Dr Jeremy
• Authors: Herren, J. K., Paredes, J. C., Schüpfer, F., Arafah, K., Bulet, P., and Lemaitre, B.
• College/School: College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Infection & Immunity
• Journal Name: eLife
• Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications
• ISSN: 2050-084X
• ISSN (Online): 2050-084X
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2014 Herren et al.
• First Published: First published in eLife 3: e02964
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License