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A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Role of Insects in Human Society".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 41564

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Prof. Dr. Maria José Sánchez-Muros

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Guest Editor

Department of Biology and Geology, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain
Interests: fish nutrition; fish metabolism; insect as protein source; insect meal pretreatment
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Dr. Cristina Elena Trenzado Romero

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Cellular Biology, University of Granada, 18072 Granada, Spain
Interests: animal welfare; fish nutrition; histology; metabolism; oxidative stress; plecoptera physiology
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Dr. Amalia Pérez-Jiménez

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Zoology, University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
Interests: animal welfare; aquatic toxicology; functional molecules; natural compounds; oxidative stress and immunology
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Dr. Eva E. Rufino Palomares

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Co-Guest Editor

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, Faculty of Sciences, University of Granada, 18012 Granada, Spain
Interests: anticancer bioactivities of natural products; functional proteomics; gene regulation by microRNAs; molecular characterization during inflammation and oxidative stress
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The culture of insects has some environmental advantages regarding other animal productions; as such, insects are currently considered part of the circular economy. Nevertheless, the use of insects is not yet widely extended to human life. Insects have been proposed as a protein source or valuable fatty acids, and chitin has been described as a probiotic or suitable for recyclable containers. Insects are also useful in medical therapies.

This Special Issue of Insects aims to collect different approaches of the use of insects for human purposes from a multidisciplinary point of view that includes nutritional, medical, legal, rearing systems, food safety, environmental markers, and other applications of insects and their derivatives for human use.

Prof. Dr. Maria José Sánchez-Muros
Dr. Cristina Elena Trenzado Romero
Dr. Amalia Pérez-Jiménez
Dr. Eva E. Rufino-Palomares
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Insects is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

aminoacids
bioactivities
chitin
fatty acids
insect use
insect culture
legal status
nutritive value
probiotic

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Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 732 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pre-Treatment of Fish By-Products to Optimize Feeding of Tenebrio molitor L. Larvae

by María-Ángeles Romero-Lorente, Dmitri Fabrikov, Juan Montes, Elvira Morote, Fernando G. Barroso, María del Carmen Vargas-García, Ágnes Timea Varga and María-José Sánchez-Muros

Insects 2022, 13(2), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13020125 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3365

Abstract

Fish discards are organic waste with high and good-quality protein levels, as well as a fatty acid profile rich in n−3 LCPUFAs, mainly eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid. These discards can be used as food for Tenebrio molitor (Linnaeus, 1758) larvae, thus increasing the nutritional value of this insect. This study focused on increasing larval acceptance of fish through different pre-treatments of the diets provided, as well as increasing the accumulation of EPA and DHA in fish-fed larvae. Four different diets were prepared: control (broiler feed), DGF50: 50% dried ground fish (Pagellus bogaraveo, Brünnich, 1768) + 50% broiler feed, for different periods, FGF100: 100% fresh ground P. bogaraveo and DUF100: 100% dried whole unground P. bogaraveo. Growth, mortality, proximate composition, fatty acid profile and lipid nutritional indices were determined. Larvae fed with FGF100 displayed better results among treatments, doubling the initial weight, as well as increasing their protein level and decreasing fat levels. Regarding fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid were only detected in larvae fed with a fish-based diet for a period longer than 5 days. These results show that pre-treatment of fish-based diets causes changes in the growth and compositional parameters of T. molitor larvae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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13 pages, 1201 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conversion of Mixtures of Soybean Curd Residue and Kitchen Waste by Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illucens L.)

by Xinfu Li, Zhihao Zhou, Jing Zhang, Shen Zhou and Qiang Xiong

Insects 2022, 13(1), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13010023 - 24 Dec 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4991

Abstract

The production of insect biomass from organic waste is a major challenge in terms of reducing the environmental impacts of waste and maintaining feed and food security. The feasibility of the co-conversion of soybean curd residue (SCR) and kitchen waste (KW) to breed black soldier fly (BSF, Hermetia illucens) larvae was evaluated so as to enhance biomass conversion efficiency and supply animal feed and allow it to be used in biodiesel production. Co-digestion was found to significantly increase larval yield, bioconversion rate, and bioaccumulation of lipid. Partial least squares regression showed that the conversion of 30% SCR with 70% KW is an appropriate proportion. The appropriate performance parameters of BSF were: survival rate (98.75%), prepupal rate (88.61%), larval biomass (30.32 g fresh and 11.38 g dry mass), bioconversion rate (18.45%), efficiency conversion of ingested food (ECI) (28.30%), and FCR (2.51). Our results show that conversion of mixtures (e.g., SCR with KW) by BSF larvae (BSFL) could play an important role in various organic materials management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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20 pages, 2450 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect on Intermediary Metabolism and Digestive Parameters of the High Substitution of Fishmeal with Insect Meal in Sparus aurata Feed

by Dmitri Fabrikov, María del Carmen Vargas-García, Fernando G. Barroso, María José Sánchez-Muros, Sylvia María Cacua Ortíz, Amalia E. Morales, Gabriel Cardenete, Cristina Tomás-Almenar and Federico Melenchón

Insects 2021, 12(11), 965; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12110965 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3262

Abstract

Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor were tested on account of their potential to replace fish protein in feed. Two levels of replacement for H. illucens, 30% and 50% (H30 and H50), and one for T. molitor, 50% (T50), as well as an additional diet with a modified fatty acid fraction (H50M), were investigated in relation to juvenile Sparus aurata growth indices, enzyme activities and gut microbiome. A T50 diet showed similar results to a control (C) diet, with no significant differences regarding morphological indices and minor differences for nutritional indices. Regarding the gut microbiome, H50M was the diet which showed the more similar prokaryotic community to C, which suggests that fatty acid fractions might influence the composition of the gut microbiome. Nevertheless, differences appeared to be related to a redistribution of dominant species, while changes in species affiliation were limited to minoritary species. The positive correlation between some of these minoritary species (Peptostreptococcus russellii, Streptococcus dysgalactiae and Weisella confusa) and several fish growth parameters might explain differences between control and insect diets. Deciphering such uncertainty and revealing the potential role these unusual species may play on fish performance should be addressed in future investigations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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17 pages, 1469 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Defatting and Extraction Solvent on the Antioxidant and Pancreatic Lipase Inhibitory Activities of Extracts from Hermetia illucens and Tenebrio molitor

by Joaquín Navarro del Hierro, Emma Cantero-Bahillo, Tiziana Fornari and Diana Martin

Insects 2021, 12(9), 789; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12090789 - 3 Sep 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3841

Abstract

The production of specific insect extracts with bioactive properties for human health is an emerging and innovative field for the edible insects industry, but there are unexplored extraction factors that might modulate the bioactivity of the extracts. Ultrasound-assisted extracts from T. molitor and H. illucens were produced. Effects of defatting pre-treatment and extraction solvent were evaluated on extraction yield, antioxidant activity and pancreatic lipase inhibitory effect. Chemical characterisation of defatted extracts from H. illucens was performed by GC-MS-FID. Non-defatted extracts showed higher extraction yields. Defatted extracts had similar extraction yields (around 3%). Defatted extracts had higher antioxidant activity, T. molitor being stronger than H. illucens. Antioxidant activity of T. molitor methanol extract was higher than the rest of solvents. Aqueous ethanol improved the antioxidant activity of H. illucens extracts. All extracts inhibited lipase, but no significant effect of defatting and solvent was observed for T. molitor. A significant higher inhibitory activity was observed for H. illucens, the strongest being defatted 100% and 70% ethanol H. illucens extracts. H. illucens extracts contained free amino acids and disaccharides, together with minor fractions of lipids, sterols and organic acids. These results evidence the potential of extracts obtained from edible insects as antioxidants and inhibitors of the pancreatic lipase, a simultaneous multibioactivity that might be favoured by the defatting pre-treatment of the samples and the solvent of extraction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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8 pages, 392 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilizing Red Spotted Apollo Butterfly Transcriptome to Identify Antimicrobial Peptide Candidates against Porphyromonas gingivalis

by Kang-Woon Lee, Jae-Goo Kim, Karpagam Veerappan, Hoyong Chung, Sathishkumar Natarajan, Ki-Young Kim and Junhyung Park

Insects 2021, 12(5), 466; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12050466 - 18 May 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2770

Abstract

Classical antibiotics are the foremost treatment strategy against microbial infections. Overuse of this has led to the evolution of antimicrobial resistance. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are natural defense elements present across many species including humans, insects, bacteria, and plants. Insect AMPs are our area of interest, because of their stronger abilities in host defense. We have deciphered AMPs from an endangered species Parnassius bremeri, commonly known as the red spotted apollo butterfly. It belongs to the second largest insect order Lepidoptera, comprised of butterflies and moths, and lives in the high altitudes of Russia, China, and Korea. We aimed at identifying the AMPs from the larvae stages. The rationale of choosing this stage is that the P. bremeri larvae development occurs at extremely low temperature conditions, which might serve as external stimuli for AMP production. RNA was isolated from larvae (L1 to L5) instar stages and subjected to next generation sequencing. The transcriptomes obtained were curated in in-silico pipelines. The peptides obtained were screened for requisite AMP physicochemical properties and in vitro antimicrobial activity. With the sequential screening and validation, we obtained fifteen candidate AMPs. One peptide TPS–032 showed promising antimicrobial activity against Porphyromonas gingivalis, a primary causative organism of periodontitis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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17 pages, 2052 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biofoam of Spittlebug, Poophilus costalis (Walker): Preferential Sites, Temperature Regulation, Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Activity

by Kitherian Sahayaraj, Balakrishnan Saranya, Samy Sayed, Loko Yêyinou Laura Estelle and Koilraj Madasamy

Insects 2021, 12(4), 340; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12040340 - 12 Apr 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2911

Abstract

The foam produced by nymphs of Poophilus costalis on eleven different host plants belonging to eight families on St. Xavier’s College campus in India was studied over five months. The chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of these biofoams were investigated. The results revealed that P. costalis preferred Theporsia purpurea and Mimosa pudica for laying their eggs and producing foam, over the other tested plants. P. costalis produce their foam on either nodes or internodes on monocotyledons (30%) (p < 0.05), whereas on dicotyledons, they produce more foam on the stems (63.8%) than on the leaves (6.2%) (p < 0.01). The number of nymphs in each piece of foam from P. costalis varied from 1 to 3 (mean = 1.8 per plant). They produced their foam (5.7 to 45.2 cm) from the ground level on a plant. The length and breadth of a piece of foam ranged from 1.0 to 3.9 cm and 0.6 to 4.7 cm, respectively. The foam tended to be cooler than the environment. Qualitative profiling showed that the foam consists of carbohydrates, including maltose; trypsin; amino acids; protease. The foam was also analyzed using a spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The antimicrobial activity of the biofoam was the greatest against Staphylococcus aureus, the growth of which was reduced by 55.9 ± 3.9%, suggesting that the foam could be used as an antimicrobial product. However, no activities were observed against Fusarium oxysporum and Candida albicans. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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14 pages, 3415 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Preparation of Antioxidant and Antibacterial Chitosan Film from Periplaneta americana

by Sicong Chen, Xunfan Wei, Zhuoxiao Sui, Mengyuan Guo, Jin Geng, Jinhua Xiao and Dawei Huang

Insects 2021, 12(1), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12010053 - 11 Jan 2021

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3384

Abstract

Among different insects, the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) has been bred in industrial scale successfully as a potential resource of protein, lipid, and antibacterial peptide. However, the application of its chitosan has not been studied widely, which has hindered the sufficient utilization of P. americana. In this paper, the chitosan from P. americana was separated, characterized, and processed into film (PaCSF) to examine its potential of being applied in food packaging. As the results of different characterizations showed, PaCSF was similar to shrimp chitosan film (SCSF). However, concerning the performances relating to food packaging, the two chitosan films were different. PaCSF contained more water (42.82%) than SCSF did, resulting in its larger thickness (0.08 mm). PaCSF could resist UV light more effectively than SCSF did. Concerning antioxidant activity, the DPPH radical scavenging ability of PaCSF increased linearly with time passing, reaching 72.46% after 8 h, which was better than that of SCSF. The antibacterial activity assay exhibited that PaCSF resisted the growth of Serratia marcescens and Escherichia coli more effectively than SCSF did. The results implied that P. americana chitosan could be a potential raw material for food packaging, providing a new way to develop P. americana. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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14 pages, 2050 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring Simplified Methods for Insect Chitin Extraction and Application as a Potential Alternative Bioethanol Resource

by Mahmoud Kamal, Eslam Adly, Sulaiman Ali Alharbi, Amany Soliman Khaled, Magda Hassan Rady and Nevin Ahmed Ibrahim

Insects 2020, 11(11), 788; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11110788 - 12 Nov 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5282

Abstract

Chitin, the second most plentiful biopolymer in nature, is a major component of insect cuticle. In searching for alternative resources for fossil fuels, some fungal strains of Mucor circinelloides from an insect-source were found to produce bioethanol directly using insect chitin as a substrate. Herein, simplified methods for insect chitin extraction and application as a substrate in submerged fermentation for bioethanol production were explored. Chitin of the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana (L.)) was isolated by refluxing the cockroaches dried exoskeletons with 4% NaOH. The purity of the extracted chitin was assessed to be high when the physicochemical properties of the extracted chitin matched these of commercially available crab and shrimp samples. The extracted chitin was employed as a substrate in submerged fermentation using two strains of M. circinelloides. One of these, strains M. circinelloides 6017 showed immense potential for bioethanol production directly. It could to bio-transform 15 g/L of colloidal chitin directly to 11.22 ± 0.312 g/L of bioethanol (74% of the initial chitin mass) after 6 days of incubation. These results confirm the possibility of using insect biomass as a potential alternative resource for bioethanol production in a simple manner thus contributing to the creation of an alternate energy source. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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11 pages, 1320 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Antimicrobial Activity of an Extract of Hermetia illucens Larvae Immunized with Lactobacillus casei against Salmonella Species

by Kyu-Shik Lee, Eun-Young Yun and Tae-Won Goo

Insects 2020, 11(10), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11100704 - 15 Oct 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 5029

Abstract

The expressions of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in the larvae of the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, were significantly increased by pathogen or stimulant induced innate immunity activation. We immunized H. illucens fifth instar larvae with five different Lactobacillus species, that is, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. brevis, L. casei, L. fermentum, or L. delbrueckii, to induce the mass production of AMPs and selected optimal immune inducers. Antimicrobial activities in hemolymph and H. illucens larvae (HIL) extract were evaluated against three salmonella species (Salmonella pullorum, Salmonella typhimurium, and Salmonella enteritidis). Highest antimicrobial activity was shown by the hemolymph of HIL immunized by L. casei and its activity was closely linked with the inductions of cecropin 1 (HiCec1) and defensin 1 (HiDef1) gene expressions. Furthermore, antimicrobial activity in hemolymph was stable to heat and pH and the growth of three Salmonella species were dramatically suppressed by HIL hemolymph and extract after immunization with L. casei. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MICs) of L. casei-immunized HIL extract against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella species ranged from 100~200 µg/100 µL and no cytotoxicity to CaCo-2 and L929 cells were observed in the concentration range 100~40,000 µg/100 µL. Taken together, the present investigation demonstrates that L. casei-immunized HIL extract is a powerful natural antibiotic and preservative that can prevent contamination by Salmonella species. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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11 pages, 1891 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Transcriptome Analysis of Psacothea hilaris: De Novo Assembly and Antimicrobial Peptide Prediction

by Joon Ha Lee, Hoyong Chung, Yong Pyo Shin, In-Woo Kim, Sathishkumar Natarajan, Karpagam Veerappan, Minchul Seo, Junhyung Park and Jae Sam Hwang

Insects 2020, 11(10), 676; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11100676 - 5 Oct 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2934

Abstract

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are the frontline innate defense system evolutionarily preserved in insects to combat invading pathogens. These AMPs could serve as an alternative to classical antibiotics to overcome the burden of treating multidrug resistant bacteria. Psacotheasin, a knottin type AMP was isolated from Psacothea hilaris and shown to exhibit antimicrobial activity, especially against fungi through apoptosis mediated cell death. In this study, we aimed to identify novel probable AMPs from Psacothea hilaris, the yellow spotted longicorn beetle. The beetle was immunized with the two bacterial strains (E. coli and S. aureus), and the yeast strain C. albicans. After immunization, total RNA was isolated and sequenced in Illumina platform. Then, beetle transcriptome was de novo assembled and searched for putative AMPs with the known physiochemical features of the AMPs. A selection of AMP candidates were synthesized and tested for antimicrobial activity. Four peptides showed stronger activity against E. coli than the control AMP, melittin while one peptide showed similar activity against S. aureus. Moreover, four peptides and two peptides showed antifungal activity stronger than and similar to melittin, respectively. Collectively one peptide showed both antibacterial and antifungal activity superior to melittin; thus, it provides a potent antimicrobial peptide. All the peptides showed no hemolysis in all the tested concentrations. These results suggest that in silico mining of insects’ transcriptome could be a promising tool to obtain and optimize novel AMPs for human needs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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Review

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15 pages, 293 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nutrition, Safety, Health Functional Effects, and Availability of Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) Drone Pupae

by Jae-Suk Choi

Insects 2021, 12(9), 771; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12090771 - 27 Aug 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2640

Abstract

Since ancient times, honeybee drone pupae have been used as food and for medicinal purposes in Asia, the United States, and Europe. Honeybee (Apis mellifera L.) drone pupae have been registered as food ingredients in Korea. This material is promising as an alternative food source. It has carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and contains various amino acids and fatty acids as well as minerals and vitamins. Prior studies have empirically demonstrated the microbiological and chemical safety of honeybee drone pupae. The health functional effects of this material have been documented as well. However, to the best of my knowledge, no review has been conducted on the published studies to date. This review aimed to summarize the research findings on honeybee drone pupae thus far. Online databases were searched according to the selection criteria, duplicate reports were excluded, and 22 eligible articles were reviewed. Conclusionally, it was confirmed that honeybee drone pupae have various nutritional components, safety as a food and cosmetic material, and various available possibilities, but more systematic studies are needed to increase their consumption. Therefore, it is believed that this synopsis will help guide future research on honeybee drone pupae. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Insects and Their Derivatives for Human Practical Uses)

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