Feeding and Nutrition of the Pea Aphid, Acyrthosiphon Pisum (Harris), with Special Reference to Amino Acids

Author(s):  
J. L. Auclair
1957 ◽  
Vol 89 (10) ◽  
pp. 457-464 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Auclair ◽  
J. B. Maltais ◽  
J. J. Cartier

In field investigations on the relative resistance of varieties of peas, Pisum sativum L., to the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harr.), the average number of aphids per terminal growth for 13 years (Maltais, 1937, 1950, 1951, and unpublished technical report, 1950-54) for six varieties was as follows: Perfection, 39.6; Daisy, 32.6; Lincoln, 35.6; Laurier (H-103), 9.8; Champion of England, 11.8; and Melting Sugar, 16.8. In a preliminary investigation by Auclair and Maltais (1950), 11 free amino acids were detected in pea plant extracts by paper chromatography. From a visual comparison of chromatograms, the variety Perfection appeared to contain a higher concentration of most free amino acids than the variety Laurier. This is a report on the quantitative estimation of the free and total amino acid contents of the three susceptible varieties (Perfection, Daisy, and Lincoln) and the three resistant varieties (Laurier, Champion of England, and Melting Sugar) by the method of paper chromatography.


1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (19) ◽  
pp. 2639-2652 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Febvay ◽  
Y. Rahbe ◽  
M. Rynkiewicz ◽  
J. Guillaud ◽  
G. Bonnot

The fate of sucrose, the major nutrient of an aphid's natural food, was explored by radiolabeling in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. To investigate the influence of nitrogen quality of food on amino acid neosynthesis, pea aphids were reared on two artificial diets differing in their amino acid composition. The first (diet A) had an equilibrated amino acid balance, similar to that derived from analysis of aphid carcass, and the other (diet B) had an unbalanced amino acid composition similar to that of legume phloem sap. Aphids grown on either diet expired the same quantity of sucrose carbon as CO(2), amounting to 25–30 % of the ingested sucrose catabolized in oxidation pathways. On diet A, the aphids excreted through honeydew about twice as much sucrose carbon as on diet B (amounting to 12.6 % of the ingested sucrose for diet A and 8.4 % for diet B), while amounts of sucrose carbons incorporated into exuviae were almost identical (1.9 % of the ingested sucrose on diet A and 2.7 % on diet B). There was also no difference in the amounts of sucrose carbon incorporated into the aphid tissues, which represented close to 50 % of the ingested sucrose. Sucrose carbons in the aphid tissues were mainly incorporated into lipids and the quantities involved were the same in aphids reared on either diet. On diet B, we observed neosynthesis of all protein amino acids from sucrose carbons and, for the first time in an aphid, we directly demonstrated the synthesis of the essential amino acids leucine, valine and phenylalanine. Amino acid neosynthesis from sucrose was significantly higher on diet B (11.5 % of ingested sucrose carbons) than on diet A (5.4 %). On diet A, neosynthesis of most of the amino acids was significantly diminished, and synthesis of two of them (histidine and arginine) was completely suppressed. The origin of amino acids egested through honeydew was determined from the specific activity of the free amino acid pool in the aphid. Aphids are able to adjust to variation in dietary amino acids by independent egestion of each amino acid. While more than 80 % of excreted nitrogen was from food amino acids, different amino acids were excreted in honeydew of aphids reared on the two diets. The conversion yields of dietary sucrose into aphid amino acids determined in this study were combined with those obtained previously by studying the fate of amino acids in pea aphids reared on diet A. The origin of all the amino acid carbons in aphid tissues was thus computed, and the metabolic abilities of aphid are discussed from an adaptive point of view, with respect to their symbiotic status.


1996 ◽  
Vol 199 (6) ◽  
pp. 1269-1276 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Rhodes ◽  
P Croghan ◽  
A Dixon

Ingestion, excretion and respiration in aphids were studied using artificial diets labelled with radioactive sucrose or amino acids. The rate of ingestion of a 25 % w/v sucrose diet was 12.4 nl mg-1 h-1 and the honeydew excretion rate was 5.3 nl mg-1 h-1, about 43 % of the volume ingested during the same period. The concentration of sugars in the honeydew was equivalent to 0.53 mol l-1 sucrose and 69 % of the sucrose ingested was assimilated. The amino acid concentration of honeydew was 24.6 mmol l-1 and 94 % of the ingested amino acids were assimilated. Respiration was measured by collecting respired 14CO2 using a chamber which allowed the aphids to feed during the experiments on 14C-labelled artificial diets. While feeding on a 25 % w/v sucrose diet, sucrose was respired at the rate of 1.32x10(-6) mmol mg-1 h-1, equivalent to 0.354 µl O2 mg-1 h-1, which was 14.6 % of the rate of ingestion. There was no evidence that reducing the dietary sucrose concentration from 22 to 11 % w/v had any effect on the rate at which sucrose was respired. Amino acids were respired at a rate of 0.14x10(-6) mmol mg-1 h-1, which was 6.4 % of the rate of ingestion. Dietary sucrose was oxidised in preference to amino acids.


1974 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Srivastava ◽  
J. L. Auclair

AbstractThe average rate of diet uptake by the 1st–3rd instar nymphs of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), on chemically defined diets containing 0.0–5.0% amino acids varied from 0.08 to 0.23 μl/aphid/24 h and that by 4th instar nymphs to adults varied from 0.15 to 0.74 μl/aphid/24 h. The presence of amino acids increased the acceptability of diets to a great extent, as uptake on such diets was 2–5 times more than that on amino acid free diets. Uptake was lowest on diets lacking amino acids, and highest on those containing 3.5 and 2.5% amino acids by 1st–3rd instar nymphs and 4th instar nymphs to adults respectively. It is suggested that certain amino acids, either alone or in combination, act synergistically with sucrose as phagostimulants. Methionine was slightly phagostimulatory to the pea aphid and enhanced the acceptability of a free amino acid diet and of a sucrose solution.As expected the rate of feeding increased as the aphids grew. Nymphs reached the adult stage, and reproduced on each diet, except on the one lacking amino acids. The longevity on different diets varied from 7 to 37 days. A concentration of 2–4% amino acids, with an optimum at 3.5%, appears to be essential for the growth, survival, and larviposition of the pea aphid.Due to the punctures made in the stretched parafilm by aphids during feeding the rate of evaporation from fed sachets was significantly higher than that from unfed sachets. It is therefore suggested that in experiments where rates of feeding are measured by differential weighings of the sachets, these be renewed at 24-h intervals.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 603-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. N. Srivastava ◽  
Y. Gao ◽  
J. Levesque ◽  
J. L. Auclair

Amino acid requirements of two biotypes (C and J) of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), were studied by deleting single amino acids from a chemically defined liquid diet. Amino acids found to be essential for growth and (or) reproduction of biotype C were arginine, histidine, leucine, lysine, methionine, threonine, and tryptophan, and for biotype J, histidine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, and valine. Two generations were needed on deficient diets to demonstrate the essentiality of some of the amino acids. This appears to be a rare example of two insect populations within one species differing in their amino acid requirements. It is suggested that intracellular symbiotes play a major role in supplying the aphids with missing amino acids.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guang Wang ◽  
Jing-Jiang Zhou ◽  
Yan Li ◽  
Yuping Gou ◽  
Peter Quandahor ◽  
...  

AbstractTrehalose serves multifarious roles in growth and development of insects. In this study, we demonstrated that the high trehalose diet increased the glucose content, and high glucose diet increased the glucose content but decreased the trehalose content of Acyrthosiphon pisum. RNA interference (RNAi) of trehalose-6-phosphate synthase gene (ApTPS) decreased while RNAi of trehalase gene (ApTRE) increased the trehalose and glucose contents. In the electrical penetration graph experiment, RNAi of ApTPS increased the percentage of E2 waveform and decreased the percentage of F and G waveforms. The high trehalose and glucose diets increased the percentage of E2 waveform of A. pisum red biotype. The correlation between feeding behavior and sugar contents indicated that the percentage of E1 and E2 waveforms were increased but np, C, F and G waveforms were decreased in low trehalose and glucose contents. The percentage of np, E1 and E2 waveforms were reduced but C, F and G waveforms were elevated in high trehalose and glucose contents. The results suggest that the A. pisum with high trehalose and glucose contents spent less feeding time during non-probing phase and phloem feeding phase, but had an increased feeding time during probing phase, stylet work phase and xylem feeding phase.


EvoDevo ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Celeste R. Banfill ◽  
Alex C. C. Wilson ◽  
Hsiao-ling Lu

Abstract Background Host/symbiont integration is a signature of evolutionarily ancient, obligate endosymbioses. However, little is known about the cellular and developmental mechanisms of host/symbiont integration at the molecular level. Many insects possess obligate bacterial endosymbionts that provide essential nutrients. To advance understanding of the developmental and metabolic integration of hosts and endosymbionts, we track the localization of a non-essential amino acid transporter, ApNEAAT1, across asexual embryogenesis in the aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Previous work in adult bacteriomes revealed that ApNEAAT1 functions to exchange non-essential amino acids at the A. pisum/Buchnera aphidicola symbiotic interface. Driven by amino acid concentration gradients, ApNEAAT1 moves proline, serine, and alanine from A. pisum to Buchnera and cysteine from Buchnera to A. pisum. Here, we test the hypothesis that ApNEAAT1 is localized to the symbiotic interface during asexual embryogenesis. Results During A. pisum asexual embryogenesis, ApNEAAT1 does not localize to the symbiotic interface. We observed ApNEAAT1 localization to the maternal follicular epithelium, the germline, and, in late-stage embryos, to anterior neural structures and insect immune cells (hemocytes). We predict that ApNEAAT1 provisions non-essential amino acids to developing oocytes and embryos, as well as to the brain and related neural structures. Additionally, ApNEAAT1 may perform roles related to host immunity. Conclusions Our work provides further evidence that the embryonic and adult bacteriomes of asexual A. pisum are not equivalent. Future research is needed to elucidate the developmental time point at which the bacteriome reaches maturity.


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