Heat-susceptible bacteria living symbiotically in the guts of
insects when exposed to higher temperatures, both the bacteria and the
insect
are negatively impacted and can die, finds new study published in the journal mBio®
Many animals and other organisms harbor microorganisms inside their body. Some insects, such as the southern green stinkbug (
Nezara viridula), depend on specific gut bacterium for normal growth and survival.
In the new study, investigators demonstrated that when the southern
green stinkbug was reared inside an incubator, in which temperature was
controlled at 2.5 °C higher than outside, there was a significant
reduction in the symbiont bacteria that sparked severe fitness defects
in the insect (ie. retarded growth, reduced size). Global warming is
predicted to raise the average temperature by 2.5 °C by 2100. At higher
temperatures, no nymphs were able to reach the adult stage.
‘Global warming wreaks havoc on life, setting off deleterious chain reactions among organisms living in symbiosis.’
"Considering that many microbial symbionts are vulnerable to high
temperature stress, such symbionts can be the Achilles' heel of
symbiont-dependent organisms in this warming world," said principal
investigator of the study Takema Fukatsu, PhD, prime senior researcher
and leader, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and
Technology, and a professor at the University of Tokyo and University of
Tsukuba.
Dr. Fukatsu said that people should keep in mind that global warming
might impact diverse organisms, not necessarily directly, but possibly
indirectly via affecting unseen microbial associates. "Coral breaching,
in which symbiotic photosynthetic algae of corals are killed by high
temperature and coral reefs are severely damaged, is regarded as a
serious environmental issue, but plausibly, similar phenomena may be
ubiquitously found in the ecosystem," said Dr. Fukatsu.
Source: Eurekalert
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