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Management of inorganic elements by overwintering physiology of cold hardy larvae of European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis, Hbn.)

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Abstract

The European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis, Hbn.), enters diapause, a strategy characterized by arrest of development and reproduction, reduction of metabolic rate and the emergence of increased resistance to challenging seasonal conditions as low sub-zero winter temperatures. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential role of inorganic elements in the ecophysiology of O. nubilalis, analysing their content in the whole body, hemolymph and fat body, both metabolically active, non-diapausing and overwintering diapausing larvae by ICP-OES spectrometer following the US EPA method 200.7:2001. O nubilalis as many phytophagous lepidopteran species maintain a very low extracellular sodium concentration and has potassium as dominant cation in hemolymph of their larvae. Changes in hemolymph and the whole body sodium content occur already at the onset of diapause (when the mean environmental temperatures are still high above 0 ºC) and remain stable during the time course of diapause when larvae of this species cope with sub-zero temperatures, it seems that sodium content regulation is rather a part of diapausing program than the direct effect of exposure to low temperatures. Compared to non-diapausing O. nubilalis larvae, potassium levels are much higher in the whole body and fat body of diapausing larvae and substantially increase approaching the end of diapause. The concentration of Ca, Mg, P and S differed in the whole body, hemolymph and fat body between non-diapausing and diapausing larvae without a unique trend during diapause, except an increase in their contents at the end of diapause.

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Generated data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author E.V. on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation of the Republic of Serbia (Grants No. ‪451-03-66/2024-03/ 200125 & 451-03-65/2024-03/200125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 2, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Elvira L. Vukašinović, Željko D. Popović, Tatjana V. Čelić, Iva Uzelac, Danijela Kojić & Jelena Purać

  2. Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, 21000, Novi Sad, Serbia

    Jordana Ninkov

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  1. Elvira L. Vukašinović
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  2. Željko D. Popović
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Correspondence to Elvira L. Vukašinović.

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Vukašinović, E.L., Popović, Ž.D., Ninkov, J. et al. Management of inorganic elements by overwintering physiology of cold hardy larvae of European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis, Hbn.). J Comp Physiol B (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-024-01537-5

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