Nitric oxide radicals are emitted by wasp eggs to kill mold fungi.

Abstract

Detrimental microbes caused the evolution of a great diversity of antimicrobial defenses in plants and animals. Insects developing underground seem particularly threatened. Here we show that the eggs of a solitary digger wasp, the European beewolf <i>Philanthus triangulum,</i> emit large amounts of gaseous nitric oxide (NO^⋅) to protect themselves and their provisions, paralyzed honeybees, against mold fungi. We provide evidence that a NO-synthase (NOS) is involved in the generation of the extraordinary concentrations of nitrogen radicals in brood cells (~1500 ppm NO^⋅ and its oxidation product NO₂^⋅). Sequencing of the beewolf <i>NOS</i> gene revealed no conspicuous differences to related species. However, due to alternative splicing, the NOS-mRNA in beewolf eggs lacks an exon near the regulatory domain. This preventive external application of high doses of NO^⋅ by wasp eggs represents an evolutionary key innovation that adds a remarkable novel facet to the array of functions of the important biological effector NO^⋅.