IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v11y2020i1d10.1038_s41467-020-16608-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

MAPK-dependent hormonal signaling plasticity contributes to overcoming Bacillus thuringiensis toxin action in an insect host

Author

Listed:
  • Zhaojiang Guo

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Shi Kang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Dan Sun

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Lijun Gong

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Junlei Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Jianying Qin

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Le Guo

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Liuhong Zhu

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Yang Bai

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Fan Ye

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Qingjun Wu

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Shaoli Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Neil Crickmore

    (University of Sussex)

  • Xuguo Zhou

    (University of Kentucky)

  • Youjun Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

Abstract

The arms race between entomopathogenic bacteria and their insect hosts is an excellent model for decoding the intricate coevolutionary processes of host-pathogen interaction. Here, we demonstrate that the MAPK signaling pathway is a general switch to trans-regulate differential expression of aminopeptidase N and other midgut genes in an insect host, diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), thereby countering the virulence effect of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins. Moreover, the MAPK cascade is activated and fine-tuned by the crosstalk between two major insect hormones, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) and juvenile hormone (JH) to elicit an important physiological response (i.e. Bt resistance) without incurring the significant fitness costs often associated with pathogen resistance. Hormones are well known to orchestrate physiological trade-offs in a wide variety of organisms, and our work decodes a hitherto undescribed function of these classic hormones and suggests that hormonal signaling plasticity is a general cross-kingdom strategy to fend off pathogens.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhaojiang Guo & Shi Kang & Dan Sun & Lijun Gong & Junlei Zhou & Jianying Qin & Le Guo & Liuhong Zhu & Yang Bai & Fan Ye & Qingjun Wu & Shaoli Wang & Neil Crickmore & Xuguo Zhou & Youjun Zhang, 2020. "MAPK-dependent hormonal signaling plasticity contributes to overcoming Bacillus thuringiensis toxin action in an insect host," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16608-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16608-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-16608-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-020-16608-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zhaojiang Guo & Le Guo & Jianying Qin & Fan Ye & Dan Sun & Qingjun Wu & Shaoli Wang & Neil Crickmore & Xuguo Zhou & Alejandra Bravo & Mario Soberón & Youjun Zhang, 2022. "A single transcription factor facilitates an insect host combating Bacillus thuringiensis infection while maintaining fitness," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16608-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.