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Immune Priming, Fat Reserves, Muscle Mass and Body Weight of the House Cricket is Affected by Diet Composition

  • Systematics, Morphology and Physiology
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Abstract

Some insect species are capable of producing an enhanced immune response after a first pathogenic encounter, a process called immune priming. However, whether and how such ability is driven by particular diet components (protein/carbohydrate) have not been explored. Such questions are sound given that, in general, immune response is dietary dependent. We have used adults of the house cricket Acheta domesticus L. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) and exposed them to the bacteria Serratia marcescens. We first addressed whether survival rate after priming and nonpriming treatments is dietary dependent based on access/no access to proteins and carbohydrates. Second, we investigated how these dietary components affected fat reserves, muscle mass, and body weight, three key traits in insect fitness. Thus, we exposed adult house crickets to either a protein or a carbohydrate diet and measured the three traits. After being provided with protein, primed animals survived longer compared to the other diet treatments. Interestingly, this effect was also sex dependent with primed males having a higher survival than primed females when protein was supplemented. For the second experiment, protein-fed animals had more fat, muscle mass, and body weight than carbohydrate-fed animals. Although we are not aware of the immune component underlying immune priming, our results suggest that its energetic demand for its functioning and/or consequent survival requires a higher demand of protein with respect to carbohydrate. Thus, protein shortage can impair key survival-related traits related to immune and energetic condition. Further studies varying nutrient ratios should verify our results.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is a partial fulfillment of the requirement for the doctoral degree of A. Nava-Sánchez at the graduate program Doctorado en Ciencias Biomédicas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Thanks to L. Cordero Méndez (Facultad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala) who provided the crickets, R. I. Martínez-Becerril for logistic support, and M. A. Moreno-García and M. Tapia R. for key assistance in the laboratory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Depto de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Univ Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico, D.F., Mexico

    A Córdoba-Aguilar, A Nava-Sánchez & D M González-Tokman

  2. CONACyT Research Fellow, Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Mexico

    D M González-Tokman

  3. Unidad de Morfología y Función, Fac de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Univ Nacional Autónoma de México, Tlalnepantla, Mexico

    R Munguía-Steyer

  4. CONACyT Research Fellow, Centro de Investigación en Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

    A E Gutiérrez-Cabrera

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  1. A Córdoba-Aguilar
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  2. A Nava-Sánchez
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  3. D M González-Tokman
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  4. R Munguía-Steyer
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Correspondence to A Córdoba-Aguilar.

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Edited by Guilherme D Rossi – UNESP

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Córdoba-Aguilar, A., Nava-Sánchez, A., González-Tokman, D.M. et al. Immune Priming, Fat Reserves, Muscle Mass and Body Weight of the House Cricket is Affected by Diet Composition. Neotrop Entomol 45, 404–410 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-016-0391-0

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