Abstract
Pygidial gland secretions are used as repellent defensive allomones in ground beetles. We provide the first precise data on the chemical composition and antimicrobial potency of the secretion of the blue ground beetle, as well as on the morphology of its pygidial glands. The latter structures were not previously studied chemoecologically and morphologically, and we hypothesized that their secretion may have some antimicrobial action, as is the case with certain Carabus species. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used to identify methacrylic and angelic acids as dominant chemicals in the secretion from individuals of three populations of the blue ground beetle in Serbia. We tested its secretion against selected strains of medically important microorganisms. The secretion exibits antimicrobial action against certain bacterial species and all tested micromycetes. The most significant antifungal effect of the secretion was against Penicillium ochrochloron, which is more sensitive to the secretion than to commercial antifungal drugs ketoconazole and bifonazole. Bifonazole achieved minimum inhibitory concentrations against Trichoderma viride at more than three times higher value than did the secretion, indicating a significant antifungal effect of the secretion against this micromycete as well. Additionally, we tested commercially available standards of two dominant chemicals in the secretion to investigate their interaction and antimicrobial role in the secretion. Finally, we describe all glandular morpho-functional units of the blue ground beetle. Our results suggest that the secretion of the blue ground beetle may serve not only defensive but also antimicrobial functions, which likely aid the survival of this beetle in the microbial-rich forest litter habitat.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Editor-in-Chief, Prof. Dr. Matthias Waltert (Georg August University of Göttingen, Germany), and the Associate Editor, Prof. Dr. John A. Byers (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), of the Science of Nature, as well as two anonymous reviewers, whose comments and suggestions greatly improved the manuscript.
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This study was supported by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development (contracts nos. 451–03-68/2022–14/200178, 451–03-68/2022–14/200168, and 451–03-68/2022–14/200007).
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The manuscript was written through the contributions of all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by NV and MN. All authors commented on the former versions of the manuscript. Funding acquisition: SĆ, MS, and VPM. Supervision: NV, MN, LV, and SĆ.
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Vesović, N., Nenadić, M., Soković, M. et al. Pygidial glands of the blue ground beetle Carabus intricatus: chemical composition of the secretion and its antimicrobial activity. Sci Nat 109, 19 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01790-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-022-01790-0