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DOI 10.1007/s10526-006-9020-x
Introduction
There are many reports that biology of social insects enhances col-
ony resistance to pathogens (Boucias et al., 1996; Rosengaus and
Traniello, 2001; Hughes et al., 2002). Furthermore, recent studies sug-
gest that termites reared individually were highly susceptible to
M. anisopliae, whereas those reared in groups were highly resistant
(Shimizu and Yamaji, 2003; Yanagawa and Shimizu, 2005). These
results indicate that social behavior performs a key role in colony
resistance to fungal diseases.
C. formosanus is one of the most destructive insects damaging
houses and structures in Japan (Vargo et al., 2003). For sustainable
pest control of the termite, it is important to understand the relation-
ships between termites and the entomopathogenic fungi in the termite
population. However, there is very little information about the nature
of the relationship.
The initial objective of this study was to examine how termites in a
group altered their susceptibility to M. anisopliae mycosis. Addition-
ally, we confirmed the effect of grooming by nestmates on the
removal of M. anisopliae conidia from the larval cuticle and the
viability of the conidia in larval alimentary tracts.
Insect
For inoculation, the termites were collected from the plastic box and
put in microcentrifuge tubes containing the conidial suspensions (A
series) (2.0 · 103–2.0 · 106 CFUs/ml). The termites were submerged
in conidial suspensions with gentle swirling for 5 s and allowed to dry
on a Whatman No. 1 filter paper. These termite treatment groups
were partitioned into two densities. Ten termites were placed individu-
ally in the wells of a 24-well microtiter plate containing a wet paper
disc. The others were placed as a group of 10 termites in 90 · 15 mm
Petri dishes containing a wet paper disc. Termites treated only with a
0.025% aqueous solution of Tween 20 were reared in each density as
controls. They were incubated at 25 C. Seven days after inoculation,
the mortalities were calculated.
Logistic regression was used for statistical analysis. Mortality data
were analyzed by Proc Logistic (SAS vs. 9.1, SAS institute, 1999).
Results
1 termite/dish 100 90 90 30 0
10 termites/dish 30 20 10 0 0
25
A
Mean number of conidia/mm2
20
15
10
25
B
20
Mean number of conidia/mm2
15
10
0
Head Thorax 2nd 4th 6th
Abdominal segments
Body location
Discussion
500
Mean number of conidia/mm2
A
400
300
200
100
500
Mean number of conidia/mm2
B
400
300
200
100
0
0h 3h 6h 24h
Time after inoculation
Acknowledgement
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