A Technique to Establish a Bacterial Infection Model in Insect Larvae
Published: September 29, 2023
Abstract
Source: Asai, M., et al. Use of the Invertebrate Galleria mellonella as an Infection Model to Study the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex. J. Vis. Exp. (2019).
This video demonstrates a method to establish a Mycobacterium bovis infection model in the larvae of the greater wax moth, Galleria mellonella. A bioluminescent strain of Mycobacterium bovis BCG is injected into the hemolymph of the larva to establish infection, and the bioluminescence is measured at predefined intervals to study the progress of infection.
Protocol
NOTE: All work described below is to be carried out in a CL2 laboratory within a class 2 microbiological safety cabinet (MSC) following local health and safety guidelines. 1. Preparation of M. bovis BCG lux for Infection Defrost a frozen 1.2 mL glycerol (15%) stock of M. bovis BCG lux, the Montreal vaccine strain transformed with the shuttle plasmid pSMT1 carrying the luxAB genes from Vibrio harveyi …
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Materials
| 1.5ml reaction tube (Eppendorf) | Eppendorf | 22431021 | |
| 20, 200 and 1000 µl pipette and filtered tips | Any supplier | n/a | |
| 24-well culture plate | Greiner | 662160 | |
| 25 ml pipettes and pipette boy | Any supplier | n/a | |
| 3 compartment Petri dish (94/15mm) | Greiner | 637102 | |
| Centrifuge | Any supplier | n/a | |
| Class II safety cabinet | Any supplier | n/a | |
| Erlenmeyer flask with vented cap (250 ml) | Corning | CLS40183 | |
| Ethanol (>99.7%) | VWR | 208221.321 | |
| Galleria mellonella (250 per pk) | Livefood Direct UK | W250 | |
| Glycerol | Sigma-Aldrich | G5150 | |
| Hygromycin B | Corning | 30-240CR | |
| Micro syringe (25 µl, 25 ga) | SGE | 3000 | |
| Microcentrifuge | Any supplier | n/a | |
| Middlebrook 7H11 agar | BD Bioscience | 283810 | |
| Middlebrook 7H9 broth | BD Bioscience | 271310 | |
| Middlebrook ADC enrichment | BD Bioscience | 212352 | |
| Middlebrook OADC enrichment | BD Bioscience | 212240 | |
| Mycobacterium bovis BCG lux | Various | n/a | |
| n-decyl aldehyde | Sigma-Aldrich | D7384-100G | |
| Orbital shaking incubator | Any supplier | n/a | |
| Phosphate-buffered saline | Sigma-Aldrich | P4417-100TAB | |
| Polysorbate 80 (Tween-80) | Sigma-Aldrich | P8074-500ml | |
| Small box | Any supplier | n/a | dark vented or non-sealed box recommended |
| Tweezer | Any supplier | n/a | Short and narrow tipped/Blunt long tweezers |
| Petri dish (94/15mm) | Greiner | 633181 | |
| Filter paper (94mm) | Any supplier | n/a | Cut to fit |
Tags
Cite This Article
A Technique to Establish a Bacterial Infection Model in Insect Larvae. J. Vis. Exp. (Pending Publication), e21706, doi: (2023).