Gut bacteria prime and reinforce mature leaf oviposition preference in beetles via plant mediated feedback
Chong Li, Ziyue Sun, Yuxin Zhang, Meiqi Ma, Letian Xu · 2026
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Description
Chong Li's team shows that gut germs steer a leaf beetle's choice of where to lay eggs, through a feedback loop with the plant itself. Female Plagiodera versicolora beetles feed on young leaves yet prefer mature leaves for eggs. Wiping out gut germs erased that choice, while moving germs brought it back.
The germ Pseudomonas putida drove the effect. Beetle feeding raised a plant hormone that helped the germs move from feeding sites onto new leaves, at some cost to the next generation's fitness. Knocking down the beetle gene TO1 erased the choice. Germ supplements brought back both the gene's activity and the egg-laying choice.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Chong Li, Ziyue Sun, Yuxin Zhang, Meiqi Ma, Letian Xu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 81 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |