Yvan Rahbé: The development of the piercing mouth during the last molt of the diseases-transmitting aphids and mosquitoes as revealed by synchrotron X-ray microtomography

The development of the piercing mouth during the last molt of the diseases-transmitting aphids and mosquitoes as revealed by synchrotron X-ray microtomography. Bastien Cayrol, Irene Arnoldi, Vladimir Novak, Sara Epis, Matteo Brilli, Yvan Rahbé, Marilyne Uzest, Paolo Gabrieli. Entomologia Generalis, Vol. 44 (2024), Issue 4, 1069–1079

The collaborative study by French, Italian and Swiss scientists aims to explore and compare the developmental dynamics of the mouthparts of biting-sucking insects with different evolutionary histories, focusing on two species of major interest: the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum and the tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, both important vectors of pathogens to plants and vertebrates. These insects have specialised mouthparts for feeding on fluids, whether plant sap or nectar or vertebrate blood. The INRAE teams focused on the biogenesis of the stylets of the pea aphid, which are renewed at each moult by specialised glands called retortiform organs. The process of adult stylet biogenesis was followed in detail using 3D reconstructions of images acquired using high-resolution synchrotron light microtomography at the Paul Scherrer Institute's Swiss Light Source, showing the transformation of the retortiform organs during the last pupal stage (N4). By providing a detailed reconstruction of the anatomical changes in the secretory glands at different times prior to the last moult, this work offers new insights into the formation of the stylet cuticle. 

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1127/entomologia/2024/2475

Contact : Marilyne Uzest, UMR0385 PHIM Plant Health Institute of Montpellier, Centre de recherche Occitanie-Montpellier