Maternal effect and immune protection of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor

In this work, Guillaume Tétreau and his colleagues of the team "Molecular Mechanisms of Adaptation and Plasticity" at IHPE have conducted the first integrative "Omic" approach to characterize the trans-generational transfer of immunity for egg protection in mealworms, during a national collaboration. A transcriptomic, proteomic and antimicrobial peptide analysis approach and functional validation by RNAi, allowed us to demonstrate that trans-generational egg protection was in fact linked to a double process: the accumulation of immune compounds by the mother in the egg matrix and the expression of in-ovo immune compounds in the first hours after egg-laying. These confer increased protection to eggs from infected females compared to healthy females.