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Same Host-Plant, Different Sterols: Variation in Sterol Metabolism in an Insect Herbivore Community

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Abstract

Insects lack the ability to synthesize sterols de novo, which are required as cell membrane inserts and as precursors for steroid hormones. Herbivorous insects typically utilize cholesterol as their primary sterol. However, plants rarely contain cholesterol, and herbivorous insects must, therefore, produce cholesterol by metabolizing plant sterols. Previous studies have shown that insects generally display diversity in phytosterol metabolism. Despite the biological importance of sterols, there has been no investigation of their metabolism in a naturally occurring herbivorous insect community. Therefore, we determined the neutral sterol profile of Solidago altissima L., six taxonomically and ecologically diverse herbivorous insect associates, and the fungal symbiont of one herbivore. Our results demonstrated that S. altissima contained Δ7-sterols (spinasterol, 22-dihydrospinasterol, avenasterol, and 24-epifungisterol), and that 85% of the sterol pool existed in a conjugated form. Despite feeding on a shared host plant, we observed significant variation among herbivores in terms of their qualitative tissue sterol profiles and significant variation in the cholesterol content. Cholesterol was absent in two dipteran gall-formers and present at extremely low levels in a beetle. Cholesterol content was highly variable in three hemipteran phloem feeders; even species of the same genus showed substantial differences in their cholesterol contents. The fungal ectosymbiont of a dipteran gall former contained primarily ergosterol and two ergosterol precursors. The larvae and pupae of the symbiotic gall-former lacked phytosterols, phytosterol metabolites, or cholesterol, instead containing an ergosterol metabolite in addition to unmetabolized ergosterol and erogsterol precursors, thus demonstrating the crucial role that a fungal symbiont plays in their nutritional ecology. These data are discussed in the context of sterol physiology and metabolism in insects, and the potential ecological and evolutionary implications.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Emily Peeden for gall dissection efforts. John Stireman aided with plant community characterization at Beaver Creek Wildlife Area. Denise Weyer assisted with plant community characterization at Shelby Bottoms. Dean Della Penna provided laboratory space and financial support for some of the sterol extraction, sterol sample preparation and analysis. Chris Dietrich provided information about the host range of A. tartarea. Two anonymous reviewers provided helpful criticisms. This work was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (DEB 0614433) awarded to P. Abbot, and by a CSREES NRI-USDA grant (2007-35302-18185) awarded to S.T. Behmer and R.J. Grebenok.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B #351634, Nashville, TN, 37235-1634, USA

    Eric M. Janson & Patrick Abbot

  2. Department of Biology, Canisius College, 2001 Main St., Buffalo, NY, 14208-1098, USA

    Robert J. Grebenok

  3. Department of Entomology, Texas A&M University, Minnie Belle Heep Building, Room 509, College Station, TX, 77843-2475, USA

    Spencer T. Behmer

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  1. Eric M. Janson
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Correspondence to Eric M. Janson.

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Janson, E.M., Grebenok, R.J., Behmer, S.T. et al. Same Host-Plant, Different Sterols: Variation in Sterol Metabolism in an Insect Herbivore Community. J Chem Ecol 35, 1309–1319 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10886-009-9713-6

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