Roles of bacteria in the bark beetle holobiont - how do they shape this forest pest?

0489207 - MBÚ 2019 RIV GB eng J - Journal Article
García Fraile, Paula
Roles of bacteria in the bark beetle holobiont - how do they shape this forest pest?
Annals of Applied Biology. Roč. 172, č. 2 (2018), s. 111-125. ISSN 0003-4746. E-ISSN 1744-7348
R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GJ16-15293Y
Institutional support: RVO:61388971
Keywords : Bacterial pathogens * bacterial symbionts * beetle nutrition
OECD category: Microbiology
Impact factor: 1.611, year: 2018

Bark beetles are well-known forest pests, some species inducing massive attacks on trees, resulting in the devastation of entire woodlands. Bark beetles are associated with microorganisms, forming an entity known as holobiont'. Beetles and fungi are the best-studied members of this multipartite symbiosis. However, recent studies have shown that bacteria may play important roles in the bark beetle holobiont, such as providing certain nutrients, promoting the growth of beneficial fungi, detoxifying the environment by lowering the levels of phenolic compounds synthesised by the host tree or by inhibiting the growth of antagonistic fungi whereas some bacterial symbionts have the potential to kill beetles under certain conditions. Therefore, bacteria probably greatly affect the life cycle of bark beetles, hence, more research is needed to clarify the extent to which a bacterial associate is implicated in a bacterial bark beetle symbiosis and how much it determines host's performance. This review summarises all of the known activities of bacteria present in the bark beetle holobiont, indicates some important gaps in the knowledge of this symbiosis and provides some guidance for overcoming the difficulties in investigating this relationship in future studies.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0283971