Temperature stress and insect immunity

This mini-review summarizes the recent knowledge concerning the role of temperature in the immune response of insects. The heat-shock is described as a common phenomenon in both homotherms and poikilotherms, and the role of heat-shock proteins in innate immunity is recalled taking into account its evolutionary aspects. Similar to homothermic animals, which show a febrile reaction to infection, poikilothermic invertebrates such as insects develop behavioural fever as part of their immune response. It can be elicited not only by the presence of the pathogen itself but also by injection of immune stimulators i.e. components of the microbial cell wall. In analogy to fever in homotherms, this process seems to be regulated by the prostaglandin/eicosanoid biosynthesis pathway. The positive effects of temperature change on insect immunity are presented in the paper.