Female bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L) anticipate the immunological consequences of traumatic insemination via feeding cues

Abstract

Not all encounters with pathogens are stochastic and insects can adjust their immune management in relation to cues associated with the likelihood of infection within a life cycle as well as across generations. In this study we show that female insects (bed bugs) up-regulate immune function in their copulatory organ in anticipation of mating by using feeding cues. Male bed bugs only mate with recently fed females and do so by traumatic insemination (TI). Consequently, there is a tight temporal correlation between female feeding and the likelihood of her being infected via TI. Females that received predictable access to food (and therefore predictable insemination and infection cycles) up-regulated induced immunity (generic antibacterial activity) in anticipation of feeding and mating. Females that received unpredictable (but the same mean periodicity) access to food did not. Females that anticipated mating-associated immune insult received measurable fitness benefits (survival and lifetime reproductive success) despite laying eggs at the same rate as females that were not able to predict these cycles. Given that mating is a time of increased likelihood of infection in many organisms, and is often associated with temporal cues such as courtship and/or feeding, we propose that anticipation of mating-associated infection in females may be more widespread than is currently evidenced.