SRA

The native seven-spotted lady bird Coccinella septempunctata is reportedly less susceptible compared to Adalia bipunctata both to the spread of H. axyridis and to its microsporidia. To address the question whether the distinct pathogen susceptibility of these three ladybird species is determined by their immune system we compared their immunity-related transcriptomes from either untreated beetles or those challenged with bacteria. We found that the number of genes encoding antimicrobial peptides in H. axyridis is three to four times higher when compared with that of C. septempuncatata or A. bipunctata, respectively.