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Biologically-Inspired Systems
Volume 2
SeriesEditor
StanislavN.Gorb
Forfurthervolumes:
http://www.springer.com/series/8430
Andreas Vilcinskas
Editor
Insect Biotechnology
123
Editor
Prof.Dr.AndreasVilcinskas
UniversityofGiessen
InstituteofPhytopathologyandAppliedZoology
Heinrich-Buff-Ring26-32
35392Giessen
Germany
[email protected]
and
FraunhoferInstituteofMolecularBiology
andAppliedEcology
DepartmentofBio-Resources
WinchesterStrasse2
35394Giessen
Germany
ISBN978-90-481-9640-1 e-ISBN978-90-481-9641-8
DOI10.1007/978-90-481-9641-8
SpringerDordrechtHeidelbergLondonNewYork
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2010938005
©SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2011
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Foreword
The idea to publish this guide on latest applications, challenges and future trends
in applied entomology arose in 2007 at the first International Congress on Insect
BiotechnologyandIndustry(ICIBI)inDaegu(Korea),whichwasorganizedbythe
KoreanEntomologicalSociety.Therapidandmulti-faceteddevelopmentsintheuse
of insects or derivatives thereof in medical, agricultural, and industrial processes
forhumanbenefitcallsforacomprehensiveguideprovidinginformationaboutthe
principles behind each technology which share considerable economic potential.
Insect biotechnology can be defined as the use of insects as well as insect-derived
cells or molecules in medical (red biotechnology), agricultural (green biotechnol-
ogy), industrial (white biotechnology), or other technological applications such as
bionics which focuses on the systematic transfer of solutions from nature to the
technical world. Biotechnology comprises a very broad spectrum of applications
which are differentiated by established color codes, for example, “blue biotech-
nology” refers to technological application of marine organisms to produce food,
cosmetics,medication,ornewmaterials.Byanalogy,Iproposethealternativeterm
“yellowbiotechnology”wheninsectsorinsect-derivedcellsormoleculesareused
inmedical,pharmaceutical,agricultural,orindustrialapplicationsbecausethecolor
code does not as yet include yellow and the insect hemolymph often has a yellow
color.
The remarkable advances in insect biotechnology are essentially driven by sci-
entificbreakthroughsinmolecularbiology,particularlybythedevelopmentoftools
and techniques that allow genetic characterization and engineering of organisms
andcells.Theuseofinsectstoproducevaluablesorfoodisnotanewtechnology,
but rather a tradition found in many human cultures. The long-term use of some
insect species such as the silk moth or bees for human benefit finally resulted in
their domestication similar to mammalian domestic animals such as cows, sheep,
and camels. In fact, the production of silk by cocoon-spinning caterpillars of the
silk moth Bombyx mori started in Asia more than 5,000 years ago and developed
fromatraditionaltoanindustrialtechnologysincetheuseofsilkhasbeenexpanded
beyondarawmaterialformanufacturingclothestoincludeitsapplicationinproduc-
tionofhigh-techproductssuchasparachutesorbullet-proofwaistcoats.Beeshave
beenexploitedasasourceofhoneyorwaxforcenturies.Becauseofthetraditional
use of insects in Asian countries, which are still the biggest producers of silk and
v
vi Foreword
honey, the emerging competition between them in developing insect biotechnol-
ogyasahighlyprofitablefieldisnotsurprising.Forexample,competitionemerged
betweenChinaandJapanastheyindependentlybegansequencingthegenomeofB.
mori,butbothcampaignswerelatermergedresultinginsuccessfulcharacterization
ofthefirstlepidopterangenome.
However, based on our experiences insects may elicit negative associations
because they are almost the most important competitors for human nutrition. The
threatimposedbyinsectsonagriculturalproductionandstorageofhumanfoodhas
plaguedhumanitythroughouthistory,beingmanifestedbylocustswarmsasoneof
the seven biblical plagues. In addition, insects were and still are the most impor-
tant vectors of human disease such as plague and malaria and, therefore, account
indirectly for a hundred million deaths annually. Consequently, previous research
inappliedentomologyhaspredominantlyfocusedondevelopmentofstrategiesand
techniques to efficiently kill insects. Since it has been recognized that insectivore
insectsorparasitoidsareimportantalliesinfightingagainstpestorvectorinsects,
and that other beneficial insects such as bees play an economically important role
aspollinators,ithasbecomeapparentthatsustainableandenvironmentallyfriendly
approachesrequiretheavailabilityofselectiveinsectcontrolmeasures.Thetarget-
ing of pests or vector insects has become imaginable as scientific breakthroughs
in molecular biology such as RNA interference technology can be combined with
expandingknowledgeaboutinsectgenomes.Duringthewritingofthechapterscon-
tributing to this book in 2009, 50 insect genome projects had either been finished
or were in progress. The outcome of all of these activities in the future may be
crops expressing double-stranded RNA mediating silencing expression of essen-
tial genes in pest insects without impeding non-target organisms. Additionally,
other approaches such as insect transgenesis and sterile insect techniques have
been proven to provide sophisticated alternative tools for targeted control of pest
or vector insects. The rapidly spreading and growing knowledge about innovative
approachesthatmeetthedefinitionofinsectbiotechnologyprovidedaboveclearly
needs to be structured and comprehensively outlined in a textbook. Being aware
thatonlyleadingexpertsintheirrespectivefieldsareabletoprovideinsightintothe
state-of-the-artindifferentareasofinsectbiotechnologyandcorrespondingcutting-
edgetechnologies,boththepublisherandtheeditorareconvincedthattheauthors
selectedforeachchapterhaveproperlyaddressedhotspotsinthefield.
The first part of the book focuses on the use of insects or insect-derived cells
and molecules in human healthcare. Insects such as the caterpillars of the greater
wax moth Galleria mellonella may effectively replace mammalian model hosts
becausetheyarecheapertorearandethicallymoreacceptable,whileotherssuchas
Drosophila are predestined for the study of molecular mechanisms behind human
diseases like asthma. The application of insects in “red biotechnology” can be
expandedbeyondtheiruseasmodelhostsandgeneticallytractablemodelorganisms
to include their value as a source of novel compounds with therapeutic poten-
tial. One impressive application of insects in medicine is highlighted in a chapter
describing the development from traditional use of maggots in therapy of chronic
and/or non-healing wounds to current approaches aiming at the identification of
Foreword vii
maggot-derivedmoleculeswiththerapeuticpotentialtogeneratesyntheticorrecom-
binantanaloguesforapplicationinbiosurgery.Insectsrepresentthemostsuccessful
groupoforganismsonearthregardingbiodiversity,andtheirtremendousvarietyat
specieslevelmaybeextendedtothemolecularlevel.Takingintoaccountthatmany
bioactive molecules identified in insects originate from associated microbes the
diversityofinsect-derivedcompoundsisvirtuallyseveralordershigher.Therefore,
two chapters have been incorporated which focus on molecules with therapeutic
potentialproducedbyeithermicrobialsymbiontsorpathogensofinsects.
Thesecondpartofthebookaddressestheinputofinsectbiotechnologytomod-
ern and sustainable approaches in plant protection. “Green biotechnology” may
profit from the raising spectrum of insect-derived genes encoding anti-microbial
peptides whose transgenic expression has been proven to confer on crops resis-
tanceagainsteconomicallyimportantphytopathogens.Identificationofspecies-or
order-specific targets for RNA interference is the subject of a subsequent chap-
terdescribinganotherpromisingtechnologyinplantprotectionwhichmayenable
selectedmeasuresagainstpestinsectswhilenotimpedingnon-targetorganisms.
Thethirdpartofthebookfocusesonindustrialapplicationofinsectsorinsect-
derivedcellsormolecules.Insect-derivedcelllinesprosperinuseasheterologous
expressionsystemsforproductionofpeptidesorproteinsused,forexample,asvac-
cines in human healthcare or as enzymes mediating industrial processes in “white
biotechnology.”Finally,insectbiotechnologyencompassesthedevelopmentofboth
novelbiosensorsonthebasisofinsectolfactionandbiomimeticsinvariousareasof
technology.Farfrombeingcomplete,the13clearlystructuredandsimplyexplained
expertcontributionsmayprovideanoverviewaboutcurrentandprominentadvances
in insect biotechnology which will help students and researchers to broaden their
knowledge and to gain an understanding of both the challenges and the opportu-
nitiesbehindeachapproach.Thisguidehasbeenwritteninordertostimulateand
acceleratetheprocessofdevelopinginnovationsininsectbiotechnology.Finally,it
maychangetheperceptionofinsectsbyentomologistsandnonexpertsinthefield
inapositivemanner.
Contents
PartI InsectBiotechnologyinMedicine
1 TheGreaterWaxMothGalleriamellonellaasanAlternative
ModelHostforHumanPathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
KrishnenduMukherjee,EugenDomann,andTorstenHain
2 Fruit Flies as Models in Biomedical Research – A
DrosophilaAsthmaModel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ThomasRoeder,KerstinIsermann,ChristinaWagner,
andChristineWarmbold
3 TherapeuticPotentialofAnti-MicrobialPeptidesfromInsects . . . 29
JochenWiesnerandAndreasVilcinskas
4 FromTraditionalMaggotTherapytoModernBiosurgery . . . . . 67
AndreasVilcinskas
5 Insect-AssociatedMicroorganismsasaSourceforNovel
SecondaryMetaboliteswithTherapeuticPotential . . . . . . . . . 77
HelgeB.Bode
6 Potential Pharmaceuticals from Insects and Their
Co-OccurringMicroorganisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
KonradDettner
PartII InsectBiotechnologyinPlantProtection
7 InsectAntimicrobialPeptidesasNewWeaponsAgainst
PlantPathogens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
CarinJansenandKarl-HeinzKogel
8 ProtectionofCropsAgainstInsectPestsUsingRNAInterference . 145
JohnA.GatehouseandDanielR.G.Price
9 InsectTransgenesisandtheSterileInsectTechnique . . . . . . . . 169
MarcF.ScheteligandErnstA.Wimmer
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