A quantitative micro-tomographic gut atlas of the lepidopteran model insect Manduca sexta

Anton G Windfelder; Jessica Steinbart; Ulrich Flögel; Jan Scherberich; Marian Kampschulte; Gabriele A Krombach; Andreas Vilcinskas

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106801

A quantitative micro-tomographic gut atlas of the lepidopteran model insect Manduca sexta

iScience. 2023 May 5;26(6):106801. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106801. eCollection 2023 Jun 16.

Authors

Anton G Windfelder^{1

2}, Jessica Steinbart^{2

3}, Ulrich Flögel⁴, Jan Scherberich², Marian Kampschulte³, Gabriele A Krombach^{2

3}, Andreas Vilcinskas^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Branch Bioresources, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME, Giessen, Germany.
² Laboratory of Experimental Radiology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.
³ Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University-Hospital Giessen, Germany.
⁴ Experimental Cardiovascular Imaging, Molecular Cardiology, Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.
⁵ Institute for Insect Biotechnology, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Giessen, Germany.

Abstract

The tobacco hornworm is used extensively as a model system for ecotoxicology, immunology and gut physiology. Here, we established a micro-computed tomography approach based on the oral application of the clinical contrast agent iodixanol, allowing for a high-resolution quantitative analysis of the Manduca sexta gut. This technique permitted the identification of previously unknown and understudied structures, such as the crop or gastric ceca, and revealed the underlying complexity of the hindgut folding pattern, which is involved in fecal pellet formation. The acquired data enabled the volume rendering of all gut parts, the reliable calculation of their volumes, and the virtual endoscopy of the entire alimentary tract. It can provide information for accurate orientation in histology uses, enable quantitative anatomical phenotyping in three dimensions, and allow the calculation of locally effective midgut concentrations of applied chemicals. This atlas will provide critical insights into the evolution of the alimentary tract in lepidopterans.

Keywords: Imaging anatomy; Methodology in biological sciences; Model organism.