Insects 2013, 4(4), 609-630; doi:10.3390/insects4040609
Grooming Behavior as a Mechanism of Insect Disease Defense
1
Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Scienses, Saint-Petersburg 194223, Russia
2
Research Institute for Sustainable Humanosphere, Kyoto University, Uji 611-0011, Japan
3
Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 26 July 2013 / Revised: 20 October 2013 / Accepted: 22 October 2013 / Published: 4 November 2013
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insect Pathology)
Abstract
Grooming is a well-recognized, multipurpose, behavior in arthropods and vertebrates. In this paper, we review the literature to highlight the physical function, neurophysiological mechanisms, and role that grooming plays in insect defense against pathogenic infection. The intricate relationships between the physical, neurological and immunological mechanisms of grooming are discussed to illustrate the importance of this behavior when examining the ecology of insect-pathogen interactions. View Full-TextKeywords:
grooming behavior; neural circuit; disease resistance; entomopathogen
▼
Figures
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0).
Scifeed alert for new publications
Never miss any articles matching your research from any publisher- Get alerts for new papers matching your research
- Find out the new papers from selected authors
- Updated daily for 49'000+ journals and 6000+ publishers
- Define your Scifeed now
Share & Cite This Article
MDPI and ACS Style
Zhukovskaya, M.; Yanagawa, A.; Forschler, B.T. Grooming Behavior as a Mechanism of Insect Disease Defense. Insects 2013, 4, 609-630.