Bark and ambrosia beetle fungi emit a greater diversity of volatile organic compounds than other fungi.
8 affiliations
- 1Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Department of Biochemistry, Jena, 07745, Germany.
- 2Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, 22362, Sweden.
- 3Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Technical University of Munich, Freising, 85354, Germany.
- 4Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A), University of Catania, Catania, 95123, Italy.
- 5Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, Jena, 07745, Germany.
- 6Department of Zoology and Entomology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, 0083,South Africa.
- 7Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Prague, 16500, Czech Republic.
- 8Department of Forest Entomology and Protection, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, 79085, Germany.
Abstract
Bark and ambrosia beetles are associated with various filamentous fungi, whose roles range from mutualists to antagonists. Mutualists can provide various benefits and are typically selectively dispersed by these wood-boring beetles. However, it is currently unknown how such bark and ambrosia beetles distinguish their fungal mutualists from other fungal associates, including insect pathogens. We hypothesized that volatile organic compounds might help maintain the mutualisms between beetles and specific fungal partners. Here, we compared the volatiles emitted by 30 fungi known to act as mutualists, commensals or antagonists for their beetle hosts. GC-MS analysis showed that all the fungi had characteristic volatile profiles with beneficial fungi emitting a greater diversity of volatiles than other fungal species. The volatile profiles of beneficial fungi were dominated by aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters in terms of both diversity and abundance. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the larvae and adults of two ambrosia beetle species can distinguish their mutualistic fungi from others based on volatile cues. Our results highlight the importance of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters as recognition cues for mutualist fungi by wood-boring beetles. Volatiles likely play key roles in maintaining beetle associations with fungi that are essential to their insect host.
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BibTeX
@article{lehenberger2026bark,
title = {{Bark and ambrosia beetle fungi emit a greater diversity of volatile organic compounds than other fungi.}},
author = {Maximilian Lehenberger and Dineshkumar Kandasamy and Pascal Edelmann and Michael Reichelt and Giulio Criscione and Pamela Lehenberger and Almuth Hammerbacher and Jonathan Gershenzon and Peter H W Biedermann},
journal = {FEMS microbiology ecology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/femsec/fiag115},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42833633},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Bark and ambrosia beetle fungi emit a greater diversity of volatile organic compounds than other fungi.
AU - Maximilian Lehenberger
AU - Dineshkumar Kandasamy
AU - Pascal Edelmann
AU - Michael Reichelt
AU - Giulio Criscione
AU - Pamela Lehenberger
AU - Almuth Hammerbacher
AU - Jonathan Gershenzon
AU - Peter H W Biedermann
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - FEMS microbiology ecology
DO - 10.1093/femsec/fiag115
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42833633
AB - Bark and ambrosia beetles are associated with various filamentous fungi, whose roles range from mutualists to antagonists. Mutualists can provide various benefits and are typically selectively dispersed by these wood-boring beetles. However, it is currently unknown how such bark and ambrosia beetles distinguish their fungal mutualists from other fungal associates, including insect pathogens. We hypothesized that volatile organic compounds might help maintain the mutualisms between beetles and specific fungal partners. Here, we compared the volatiles emitted by 30 fungi known to act as mutualists, commensals or antagonists for their beetle hosts. GC-MS analysis showed that all the fungi had characteristic volatile profiles with beneficial fungi emitting a greater diversity of volatiles than other fungal species. The volatile profiles of beneficial fungi were dominated by aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters in terms of both diversity and abundance. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the larvae and adults of two ambrosia beetle species can distinguish their mutualistic fungi from others based on volatile cues. Our results highlight the importance of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols and esters as recognition cues for mutualist fungi by wood-boring beetles. Volatiles likely play key roles in maintaining beetle associations with fungi that are essential to their insect host.
SN - 0168-6496
SN - 1574-6941
ER -