Biological control

INSECT PATHOLOGY
Introduction
Insect
◦ ¾ of all animals in the world
◦ Terrestrial or aquatic
◦ Beneficial to human
◦ Silkworm (Bombyx mori)
◦ Predator
◦ Parasitoid
Chemical control
Negative effect on human and environment
Emerging resistance in pest species to pesticides
Negative effect on non target organism
Scope of insect pathology (Entomology)
Father of Philippine Insect
Pathology
Dr. Bernardo P. Gabriel
Basic Principles in Insect Pathology
• The microorganism
• Classification and Phylogeny of entomopathogen
• How entomopathogen invade the host
• Toxins involved in the process
• Infectivity of the entomopathogen
• Intensity of the disease
• Number of microorganism needed
• Manifestation of disease
• Progress of infection
• Type of infection
• Proof of infection (Koch’s postulate)
Entomopathogen
Greek entoma = insect, pathos = suffering , gennaine = to produce,
synonymous with “Insect Pathogen”.
The infectious agents, microorganisms, that invade and reproduce in an
insect spread to infect other insect.
(Eilenberg et al., 2001) The use of microorganisms for biological control is
commonly referred to a microbial control.
◦ Classical
◦ Augmentation
◦ Inoculation
◦ Inundative
◦ Conservation
Categories of Infectious Microorganism
1. Opportunistic pathogen- which does not ordinarily cause disease but
under certain condition it becomes pathogenic.
• Aspergillus flavus
2. Potential pathogen- has no method of invading or infecting a host but
can multiply and causes disease if it gains entrance.
• Serratia marcescens
3. Facultative pathogen- can infect and multiply in host animals but also
capable of multiplying in the environment
• Bacillus thuringiensis
4. Obligate pathogen- multiply in nature only within the bodies of
specific hosts in which it causes specific diseases.
• Baculoviruses
Portal of entry
1. Per os mouth 4. Spiracle
• Bacteria • Fungi
• Virus • EPN
• EPN
5. Congenital passage
2. Per anal anus • Transovarial transmission
• Fungi • Transovum transmission
• EPN
6. Contaminated parasitoid
3. Integument • Virus
• Fungi
• EPN
How entomopathogen cause disease
1. Production of chemical toxins substance
• As effect of multiplication
• Catabolism- produced from decomposition brought about by metabolic process
• Anabolism- Synthesized by pathogen using single nutrient
• Exotoxins- excreted out of the cells of the pathogen during
reproduction and have been isolated from entomopathogen
• Endotoxins- Toxins produced by the pathogen are not excreted but
confined within the cells
2. Mechanical destruction
3. Combination of 1 and 2
Infectivity
- the ability of a microorganisms to enter the body of a susceptible
insect and produce infection.
 Two main factors
• Invasiveness- toxins to the cell, tissues, hemocoel
• Pathologies- agents transmission (contagious or communicable)
Pathogenicity and Virulence
• Pathogenicity- “the quality or state or being, the potential or ability to
produce disease”.

• Virulence- “ the disease producing power of an organism, the degree of

pathogenicity within a group or species”.

Vega and Kaya, 2021

Dosage
- referred to the minimal number of infective propagules is needed to
pass through the portal of entry for infection to occur.
 Dosage can be expressed quantitavely
• LD- Lethal dose
• ED- Effective dose
• LT- Lethal time to death
Signs, Symptoms and Syndromes
 Signs- indicated by abnormalities in the morphology or structure such as color,
malformed appendages, or body segments, fragility, of the integument.
• Discoloration
 Symptoms- functional and behavior disturbance
• Abnormal movement
• Abnormal response to stimuli
• Digestive disturbance
• Inability to mate.
 Syndromes- refers to the system complex or particular combination or sequence
of sign and symptoms.
• Silkworm infected with BT cessation of feeding Sluggishness Blood pH Death
Acute, Chronic, and Latent infection
 Acute- infection is distinct and characteristics response of the insect to
the pathogen causing the disease.
 Chronic- infection is less striking and apparent to the observer until
very late in the infection process.
 Latent infection- the pathogen in the insect is in dormant or inactive
stage, thus no obvious sign and symptoms.
Kaya and Vega, 2012
Interaction among Microorganism
1. Independent coexistence
• Association of two pathogen has no effect on the pathogenicity of
one or both pathogen.
2. Complementation
• Association of two pathogen results to the increase in pathogenicity
of one or both pathogen.
3. Interference
• Association of two pathogen results to the decrease in pathogenicity
of one or both pathogen.
Koch’s Postulate
• Etiological or establishment of the casual microorganism of a
disease
• Robert Koch (1843- 1910), German physician
1. A specific pathogenic organism must be seen in all cases of
disease
2. This organism must be attained in pure culture
3. The organism from the pure culture must reproduce the
disease in experimental animals
4. The same organism must be recovered from the
experimental animal
Diagnosis
• A fundamental branch of insect pathology which involves the
process which one disease is distinguish from one another.
 Diagnostic process
I. Etiology (origin)
II. Symptomology ( sign and symptoms)
III. Pathogenicity (behavior, morphology, physiology)
IV. Pathology (compare from the normal)
V. Epizootiology (Large population of infection)
Entomopathogenic Bacteria
•Spore forming
• Bacillus spp. (BT)
• Paenibacillus spp
• Clostridium spp.
• Non-spore forming
• Pseudomonas
• Serratia
• Yersinia
• Photorhabdus
• Xenorhabdus
• Xenorhabdus Manda et al, 2020
Type of Response
• Type I response • Type II response
• Midgut paralysis • Midgut paralysis
• Delta-endotoxin • Delta-endotoxin
Symptoms Symptoms
◦ Cessation of feeding ◦ Septicemia (24- 72 hours)
◦ Increase in hemolymph pH
◦ Vomiting
◦ Diarrhea
◦ Sluggishness
◦ Paralysis and Septicemia (24-
48 hours)
Type of Response
• Type III response • Type IV response
• Midgut paralysis • Midgut paralysis
• Delta-endotoxin • Delta-endotoxin
Symptoms • Older instar less susceptible
◦ Cessation of feeding than young ones
◦ Mortality (48- 96 hours) Symptoms
◦ Cessation of feeding
◦ Mortality (72- 96 hours)
Application of Biopesticides
e.g. Bacillus thuringiensis including transgenic plants
Entomopathogenic Fungi
• Infection occur when the fungi spores come into contact with the
host.
• Moderate temperature
• High relative humidity
• Mode of action
• Once inside the body, the fungi multiply, invade the insect tissues,
emerge from the dead insect, and produce more spores.
• Commercially available Bio pesticides
• Beauveria bassiana, Isaria fumosorosea, Hirsutella thompsonii,
Lecanicillium lecanii, Metarhizium acridum, M. anisopliae, and M.
brunneum
Bucarei et al, 2019
Entomopathogenic Nematodes
• microscopic, soil-dwelling worms that are parasitic to insects.
• natural openings such as the mouth, spiracles, and anus or the
intersegmental membrane.
• Heterorhabditis and Steinernema
• Heterorhabditis spp.- Photorhabdus spp.
• Steinernema spp.- Xenorhabdus spp.
Gulcu et al, 2017
Entomopathogenic Virus
• Baculoviruses- nucleopolyhedroviruses (NPV)
• Granuloviruses (GV)
• Mode of Action
• Occlusion bodies (Virions)
• invade the nucleus of the midgut, fat body or other tissue cells,
compromising the integrity of the tissues and liquefying the cadavers.
• Symptoms
• shiny oily appearance of body
• sluggish
• dark or brown
• 2-3 days to infect or kill their host
• Commercially available EPV
• Helicoverpa zea single-enveloped nucleopolyhedrovirus (HzSNVP)
• Spodoptera exigua multi-enveloped nucleopolyhedrovirus (SeMNPV)
• Cydia pomonella granulovirus (CpGV).
Predator
• Eat many prey in a lifetime, feeding both as young and as
adults.
• kill and feed on several to many individual prey during their
lifetimes
Image source: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/lady_beetles.htm
Image source: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Predatory-Coccinellids-(Coleoptera%3A-Cocinellidae)-A-Mayadunnage-
Nugaliyadde/1cfa23604b29e14d7700418d7929610d60c81f84
Parasitism
• specialized insects that develop as a young in one host,
eventually killing it.
• A parasitoid is an organism that spends a significant portion
of its life history attached to or within a single host organism.
•A parasitoid ultimately kills and often consumes its host in the
process
• Parasitoids obtain nourishment from host, but is not needed to
survive
• Parasitoids can live independently
• Relationship lasts the life cycle of its host
Parasitoids are also often closely coevolved with their hosts
• Idiobiont

•Koinobiont
• Endoparasitoids
• Ectoparasitoids

•Hyperparasite
• Parasitoids Life
• Adult parasitoids are free-living and may be predaceous
• Most insect parasitoids only attack a particular life stage of
one or several related species
• The immature parasitoid develops on or within a pest,
feeding on body fluids and organs, eventually leaving the
host to pupate or emerging as an adult
• The life cycle of the pest and parasitoid can coincide, or that
of the pest may be altered by the parasitoid to accommodate
its development
• Life cycle and life habits
• In some species, only one parasitoid will develop in or on each
pest while
• In others, hundreds of young larvae may develop within the
pest host
• Female parasitoids may also kill many pests by direct
feeding on the pest eggs and immature Wasp
References
• Entomopathogenic microorganisms: modes of action and role in IPM. (n.d.). ANR Blogs.
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=24119.
• Gangwar, P., Trivedi, M., & Tiwari, R. K. (2021). Entomopathogenic Bacteria. Microbial
Approaches for Insect Pest Management, 59–79. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3595-
3_2.