1) Aphids have developed a repair mechanism to fix damage to their gall homes. Soldier aphid nymphs will sacrifice themselves to repair holes in the gall by excreting body fluids that harden and seal the hole.
2) Studies have found proteins in soldier aphid body fluids that are involved in the clotting process. The aphids exaggerate their innate clotting mechanism to repair damage to the protective gall.
3) This self-sacrificing behavior protects the entire aphid colony living within the gall and demonstrates how social aphid species have evolved cooperative behaviors to defend and repair their communal homes.
5. 5
Overview of galls
Galls are abnormal growths that occur on leaves,
twigs, roots or flowers of many plants.
Caused by Insects,mites, bacteria, fungi or
nematodes
Appear as balls, knobs, lumps or warts
6. 6
Stone and Schonrogge (2003)
Diversity in galls
(a) Leaf roll galls
(b) Sawfly, Euura weiffenbachii on willow
(c) Gall midge Contarinia subulifex on oak
(d) Pouch gall; pouch galls by aphids
(e) Pemphigus borealis
(f) P. spirothecae
(g) Astegopteryx styracophila and
(h) Tuberaphis sumatrana
(i) Thrips, Oncothrips rodwayi on Acacia
(j) Woody stem gall thrips, Lotatubothrips sp. on
Acacia cunninghamiana
(k) Gall induced by thrips Oncothrips sterni
(l) Enclosed gall by gall midges
(m) Enclosed gall on hickory
(n) Mikiola fagi on beech.
(o) Cryptic enclosed galls inside fig fruit, small galls
by pollinating wasp (Pleistodontes imperialis,
Agaonidae), whereas large galls by a
nonpollinator (Herodotia sp. Epichrysomallinae).
(p) An enclosed sawfly gall on willow
(q) An enclosed Cynipid gallwasp
7. Traits in galls
7
(a) Internal air spaces and nutritive tissues
(b) Multiple larval cells in Andricus
quercusradicis
(c) Nectar secretion - Dryocosmus
cerriphilus.
(d) Dense hair in Chilaspis nitida
(e) Colouration in Andricus curtisii.
(f) Dense spines in Andricus lucidus
(g) Sticky resin in Andricus dentimitratus
(h) A parasitoid.
(i) A dummy upper chamber in Andricus
galeatus
(j) Soldier aphids on the surface of the
gall induced by the ginger aphid,
Pseudoregma sundanica
(k) A female inquiline thrips
(l) Gall weevils, larvae eat gall tissue and
gallwasp larvae.
(m)The caterpillar of a tortricid moth
(n) A parasitoid wasp (Megastigmus
stigmatizans, Torymidae)
(o) Galls of Andricus solitarius
Stone and Schonrogge (2003)
8. Social behaviour in aphids
Gall cleaning
Colony defence
Gall repairing by self sacrifice
8
9. 9
Hypotheses for the significance of gall induction
.
Nutrition hypothesis Microenvironment hypothesis
Enemy hypothesis
Stone and Schonrogge (2003)
10. Amino acids in the EDTA exudation from galled and ungalled leaves infested by
Rhapalosiphum insertum on Sorbus commixta
Aphid galls accumulate high concentrations of amino acids: a
support for the nutrition hypothesis for gall formation
Koyama et al. (2004) 10
Galls (◊) , Ungalled leaves (▪)
11. Specialized placement of morphs within the gall
of the social aphid Pemphigus spyrothecae
• Numerous morphs within the nests (plant galls) of
the aphid species Pemphigus spyrothecae
Pike (2007) 11
13. Do aphids self sacrifice themselves in protecting
their home?
13
Kurosu et al. (2003)
Self-sacrificing gall repair by aphid nymphs
14. The social aphid - Nipponaphis monzeni
Primary host - Distylium racemosum
Secondary host- Quercus glauca &
Quercus myrsinaefolia
14
Nipponaphis monzeni
Kurosu et al. (2003)
15. • Invasion of predator- gall repairing behaviour of aphid
• The cornicles - alarm pheromone, to plaster up a hole
15
Kurosu et al. (2003)
Mission completed...!!!
16. Fortress repair in the social aphid species
Pemphigus spyrothecae
Pike and Foster (2004)
o Nest repair is a vital element in the cooperative brood care that
is a distinctive feature of eusocial animals.
o Social aphid, Pemphigus spyrothecae
16
17. 17
20 galls on four trees with two
treatments
Gall Repair Agents of Gall repair
(1)All aphids were removed from
a gall, a hole was cut and 20
soldiers only were replaced in
the gall
(2)Aphids were removed, a hole
was cut with 20 third-instar
sexuparae
(1) (2)
Pike and Foster (2004)
(1) (2)
18. 18
Gall repair in Pemphigus spyrothecae
(a) Freshly cut hole with soldiers visible around its
periphery
(b) Full repair of the damaged area by compensatory
overgrowth from the opposing coil
(c) No repair of a gall in which the aphids were killed
(b)
(c)
(a)
(b)
(c)
(a)
Percentage
of
galls
Pike and Foster (2004)
• Some level of repair
- 100% of galls
containing aphids
• No repair -Aphids
had been killed
• Total repair -
compensatory
growth , 70% of
galls containing
aphids
19. 19
Waste disposal - Gall dwellers to sustain their social life
Honeydew balls - prevents from wetting and drowning
Plant manipulation by gall forming social aphids for
waste management
Kutsukake et al. (2019)
23. 23
Kutsukake et al. (2019)
N monzeni on
Distylium racemosum
Inside view Soldier nymphs
Exaggeration and cooption of innate immunity for
social defense
White arrow - first-instar soldier
Black arrow - adult
Small white - powdery aggregates
Small black - aphid cadaver.
Body fluid Soldier nymph Plastering nymphs Repaired hole
What are the molecular and cellular mechanisms
underlie the self-sacrificing nest repair with their
body fluids ?
24. 24
Kutsukake et al. (2019)
An experimentally bored hole filled by body fluid of soldier
nymphs at hours after plugging.
25. LGCs by soldier nymph LGCs
soldier nymph
Soldier’s body fluid 3d after
gall repair
Kutsukake et al. (2019)
25
29. Localization of PO and RCP
• In situ hybridization and
immunochemistry
• Early soldier embryos
• In embryonic and nymphal
development
• In mature soldier
29
Kutsukake et al. (2019)
33. Mechanism of body fluid clotting
Cellular/biochemical level
Body fluid clotting and
wound sealing
Exaggerated and excreted clotting
mechanism in soldier nymph
Individual level
33
Kutsukake et al.(2019)
Co-option of body fluid clotting for gall repair by soldier nymphs
Colony level
Hypothetical mechanism
Fig. 2D shows SDS/PAGE and immunoblot profiles of thebody-fluid proteins of the soldier nymphs derived from eightgalls (designated as galls a–h) collected at the same locality. Whereas the most abundant PO protein (Fig. 2D, band 5) was constant in size, the next most abundant proteins (Fig. 2D, bands
4 and 6) exhibited peculiar patterns: one or two bands were detected from each gall colony, and the size of the protein bands differed among the gall colonies (Fig. 2D), uncovering that the no. 4 and no. 6 band proteins show striking size polymorphism even in the same population of N. monzeni.