An Entomopathogenic Nematode by Any Other Name

Creators: Dillman, Adler R.; Chaston, John M.; Adams, Byron J.; Ciche, Todd A.; Goodrich-Blair, Heidi; Stock, S. Patricia; Sternberg, Paul W.

Abstract

Among the diversity of insect-parasitic nematodes, entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) are distinct, cooperating with insect-pathogenic bacteria to kill insect hosts. EPNs have adapted specific mechanisms to associate with and transmit bacteria to insect hosts. New discoveries have expanded this guild of nematodes and refine our understanding of the nature and evolution of insect–nematode associations. Here, we clarify the meaning of "entomopathogenic" in nematology and argue that EPNs must rapidly kill their hosts with the aid of bacterial partners and must pass on the associated bacteria to future generations.

Additional Information

© 2012 Dillman et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Published March 1, 2012. Editor: Glenn F. Rall, The Fox Chase Cancer Center, United States of America. Funding: The NEMASYM (Nematode-Bacterium Symbioses) Research Coordination Network (NSF-IOS 0840932 to S. Patricia Stock) provided funding to attend the 3rd NEAMSYM Meeting in Corvallis, Oregon. ARD was supported by a United States Public Health Service Training Grant (T32GM07616). PWS is an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We would like to thank collaborators and colleagues who have contributed to the wealth of knowledge on this subject. We also wish to thank Hillel Schwartz and Jagan Srinivasan for critical review of the manuscript and stimulating discussion, David Fitch for taxonomic and nomenclatural suggestions, and for anonymous reviewers whose comments significantly improved this manuscript.

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