Fig. 2: Bacterial symbionts reduce growth of pathogenic fungi and enhance survival of L. villosa larvae.
From: Bacterial ectosymbionts in cuticular organs chemically protect a beetle during molting stages
1st instar larvae with (solid lines) or without symbionts (dotted lines) were exposed to different fungal pathogens in small groups and were single-blind monitored for 10 days. a Survival was assessed for an environment with 7.5 × 103 P. lilacinum conidia in 460 larvae from 8 clutches. b Survival and (c) visible fungal infection was assessed for an environment with either 106 conidia of B. bassiana (beige lines), M. anisopliae (dark green lines) or a no-fungus-environment (light blue lines) (in total 404 larvae from 4 clutches). Statistically significant differences in relation to aposymbiotic controls or no fungus controls (treatment legends in (b) and (c)) based on Cox mixed effects model: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01 and ***p < 0.001. Estimated survival curves (Kaplan–Meier) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals are shown.
