白蚁抗病原微生物侵染机制研究进展

白蚁作为古老的社会性昆虫,在其生活史内易受到多种病原物的潜在威胁。本文主要根据白蚁的生理免疫及其社会性行为,如白蚁的细胞免疫和体液免疫以及相互清理等利他性行为,对其抵抗病原物侵染和扩散的个体生理免疫和群体行为防御策略进行了综述,以期为白蚁免疫策略的研究提供必要的信息。目前已从白蚁额腺和胸腺中分离到具抗菌活性的分泌物,且已明确白蚁能产生termicin、spinigerin等抗菌肽和转铁蛋白、溶菌酶等抗菌蛋白,抗菌肽的理化性质已得到初步研究。此外,白蚁的社会性行为( 如相互清理、交哺等) 能有效降低白蚁被病原物侵染的几率。运用RNA干扰等分子生物学方法证明利用病原微生物防治白蚁具有广阔的前景,但需要我们对白蚁抗菌肽的进化、各种抗菌肽和抗菌蛋白之间的相互作用以及各种生理免疫策略与群体内的社会性行为之间的联系进行更深入的研究。

Advances in mechanisms of resisting entomopathogenic microbial infection in termites

As one group of old social insects,termites face serious threats from a variety of potential entomopathogenic microbes during their long life history. This article gives a brief review of the mechanisms by which termites resist the infection and spreading of entomopathogenic microbes in terms of physiological immunization and social behaviors,such as cellular and humoral immune responses as well as other altruistical behaviors like allogrooming,so as to provide necessary information for the studies on termite immunity strategies. At present,several antimicrobial compounds have been identified from cephalic gland and sternal gland secretions of termites. Several antimicrobial peptides such as termicin and spinigerin and antimicrobial proteins like transferrin and lysozymes as well as the social behaviors including allogrooming and trophallaxis turn out to play important roles in protecting termites from being infected by entomopathogenic microbes. Researchers have clarified preliminarily the physicochemical properties of antimicrobial peptides and confirmed that controlling termites with entomopathogenic microbes by means of RNA interference and other molecular biological methods is feasible and promising. However,it needs further study to clarify the evolution of antimicrobial peptides,the interactions between various antimicrobial peptides and proteins as well as the interactions between physiological immunity strategies and intra-colonial social behaviors.