Bacterial Communities of Two Parthenogenetic Aphid Species Cocolonizing Two Host Plants across the Hawaiian Islands

ABSTRACTAphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) have been the focus of several studies with respect to their interactions with inherited symbionts, but bacterial communities of most aphid species are still poorly characterized. In this research, we used bar-coded pyrosequencing to characterize bacterial communities in aphids. Specifically, we examined the diversity of bacteria in two obligately parthenogenetic aphid species (the melon aphid,Aphis gossypii, and the cardamom aphid,Pentalonia caladii) cocolonizing two plant species (taro,Colocasia esculenta, and ginger,Alpinia purpurata) across four Hawaiian Islands (Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, and Oahu). Results from this study revealed that heritable symbionts dominated the bacterial communities for both aphid species. The bacterial communities differed significantly between the two species, andA. gossypiiharbored a more diverse bacterial community thanP. caladii. The bacterial communities also differed across aphid populations sampled from the different islands; however, communities did not differ between aphids collected from the two host plants.

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Microbiome diversity of cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii) is associated with host alternation

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-83675-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yan-jie Ma ◽

Hao-peng He ◽

Hai-meng Zhao ◽

Yi-dan Xian ◽

Hui Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Communities ◽

Host Plants ◽

Aphis Gossypii ◽

Principal Component ◽

Illumina Miseq ◽

Aphid Species ◽

Symbiotic Bacteria ◽

Host Alternation ◽

Specific Host ◽

Rdna Sequencing

AbstractAphids are infected by a series of bacteria that can help them survive on specific host plants. However, the associations between aphids and these bacteria are not clear, and the bacterial communities in many aphid species are poorly characterized. Here, we investigated the bacterial communities of cotton aphids (Aphis gossypii) on 2 representative winter host plants and transferred to 3 summer host plants by 16S rDNA sequencing using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Our results revealed that the bacterial communities varied among cotton aphids on hibiscus, cotton aphids on pomegranate, cotton aphids on cotton transferred from hibiscus, cotton aphids on muskmelon transferred from hibiscus, cotton aphids on cucumber transferred from hibiscus,. The diversity and richness of the bacterial communities were significantly higher in aphids on muskmelon and aphids on cucumber than in the other treatments. There were two main factors influencing the distribution of internal bacterial OTUs revealed by principal component analysis, including the differences among Punicaceae, Malvaceae and Cucurbitaceae. There were 28 bacterial communities with significant differences between two arbitrary treatments, which could be grouped into 6 main clusters depending on relative abundance. Moreover, our results indicated that in addition to the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera, with a dominant position (> 52%), A. gossypii also harbored 3 facultative endosymbiotic bacteria (Serratia, Arsenophonus, and Wolbachia) and 3 possibly symbiotic bacteria (Acinetobacter, Pantoea, and Flavobacterium). There were several correspondences between the symbiotic bacteria in cotton aphids and the specific host plants of the aphids. This study provides a better understanding of the interactions among symbiotic bacteria, aphids and host plants, suggesting that the selection pressure on aphid bacterial communities is likely to be exerted by the species of host plants.

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Tagging Frogs with Passive Integrated Transponders Causes Disruption of the Cutaneous Bacterial Community and Proliferation of Opportunistic Fungi

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.01175-14 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 80 (15) ◽

pp. 4779-4784 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Rachael E. Antwis ◽

Gerardo Garcia ◽

Andrea L. Fidgett ◽

Richard F. Preziosi

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Pathogenic Fungus ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Bacterial Strains ◽

Opportunistic Fungi ◽

Content Type ◽

Pit Tagging

ABSTRACTSymbiotic bacterial communities play a key role in protecting amphibians from infectious diseases including chytridiomycosis, caused by the pathogenic fungusBatrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Events that lead to the disruption of the bacterial community may have implications for the susceptibility of amphibians to such diseases. Amphibians are often marked both in the wild and in captivity for a variety of reasons, and although existing literature indicates that marking techniques have few negative effects, the response of cutaneous microbial communities has not yet been investigated. Here we determine the effects of passive integrated transponder (PIT) tagging on culturable cutaneous microbial communities of captive Morelet's tree frogs (Agalychnis moreletii) and assess the isolated bacterial strains for anti-B. dendrobatidisactivityin vitro. We find that PIT tagging causes a major disruption to the bacterial community associated with the skin of frogs (∼12-fold increase in abundance), as well as a concurrent proliferation in resident fungi (up to ∼200-fold increase). Handling also caused a disruption the bacterial community, although to a lesser extent than PIT tagging. However, the effects of both tagging and handling were temporary, and after 2 weeks, the bacterial communities were similar to their original compositions. We also identify two bacterial strains that inhibitB. dendrobatidis, one of which increased in abundance on PIT-tagged frogs at 1 day postmarking, while the other was unaffected. These results show that PIT tagging has previously unobserved consequences for cutaneous microbial communities of frogs and may be particularly relevant for studies that intend to use PIT tagging to identify individuals involved in trials to develop probiotic treatments.

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Characterization of microbial communities from rumen and large intestine of lactating creole goats grazing in arid plant communities

Microbiology ◽

10.1099/mic.0.001092 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 167 (10) ◽

Author(s):

Aarón Barraza ◽

Juan J. Montes-Sánchez ◽

M. Goretty Caamal-Chan ◽

Abraham Loera-Muro

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

Microbial Communities ◽

Plant Communities ◽

Large Intestine ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Sonoran Desert ◽

Rainy Season ◽

Native Plant ◽

Content Type ◽

Link Type

Arid plant communities provide variable diets that can affect digestive microbial communities of free-foraging ruminants. Thus, we used next-generation sequencing of 16S and 18S rDNA to characterize microbial communities in the rumen (regurgitated digesta) and large intestine (faeces) and diet composition of lactating creole goats from five flocks grazing in native plant communities in the Sonoran Desert in the rainy season. The bacterial communities in the rumen and large intestine of the five flocks had similar alpha diversity (Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indices). However, bacterial community compositions were different: a bacterial community dominated by Proteobacteria in the rumen transitioned to a community dominated by Firmicutes in the large intestine. Bacterial communities of rumen were similar across flocks; similarly occurred with large-intestine communities. Archaea had a minimum presence in the goat digestive tract. We detected phylum Basidiomycota, Ascomycota, and Apicomplexa as the main fungi and protozoa. Analyses suggested different diet compositions; forbs and grasses composed the bulk of plants in the rumen and forbs and shrubs in faeces. Therefore, lactating goats consuming different diets in the Sonoran Desert in the rainy season share a similar core bacterial community in the rumen and another in the large intestine and present low archaeal communities.

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Ecological Succession of Bacterial Communities during Conventionalization of Germ-Free Mice

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.05239-11 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 78 (7) ◽

pp. 2359-2366 ◽

Cited By ~ 39

Author(s):

Merritt G. Gillilland ◽

John R. Erb-Downward ◽

Christine M. Bassis ◽

Michael C. Shen ◽

Galen B. Toews ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

16S Rrna ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Structural Heterogeneity ◽

Ecological Succession ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Gi Tract ◽

Content Type ◽

Germ Free ◽

Over Time

ABSTRACTLittle is known about the dynamics of early ecological succession during experimental conventionalization of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; thus, we measured changes in bacterial communities over time, at two different mucosal sites (cecum and jejunum), with germfree C57BL/6 mice as the recipients of cecal contents (input community) from a C57BL/6 donor mouse. Bacterial communities were monitored using pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicon libraries from the cecum and jejunum and analyzed by a variety of ecological metrics. Bacterial communities, at day 1 postconventionalization, in the cecum and jejunum had lower diversity and were distinct from the input community (dominated by eitherEscherichiaorBacteroides). However, by days 7 and 21, the recipient communities had become significantly diverse and the cecal communities resembled those of the donor and donor littermates, confirming that transfer of cecal contents results in reassembly of the community in the cecum 7 to 21 days later. However, bacterial communities in the recipient jejunum displayed significant structural heterogeneity compared to each other or the donor inoculum or the donor littermates, suggesting that the bacterial community of the jejunum is more dynamic during the first 21 days of conventionalization. This report demonstrates that (i) mature input communities do not simply reassemble at mucosal sites during conventionalization (they first transform into a “pioneering” community and over time take on the appearance, in membership and structure, of the original input community) and (ii) the specific mucosal environment plays a role in shaping the community.

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The Bacterial Flora Associated with the Polyphagous Aphid Aphis gossypii Glover (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Is Strongly Affected by Host Plants

Microbial Ecology ◽

10.1007/s00248-019-01435-2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 79 (4) ◽

pp. 971-984 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Shifen Xu ◽

Liyun Jiang ◽

Gexia Qiao ◽

Jing Chen

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Host Plants ◽

Statistical Tests ◽

Bacterial Flora ◽

Aphis Gossypii ◽

Natural Populations ◽

Aphid Species ◽

Ecological Specialization ◽

Cotton Aphid ◽

Symbiotic Associations

AbstractAphids live in symbiosis with a variety of bacteria, including the obligate symbiont Buchnera aphidicola and diverse facultative symbionts. The symbiotic associations for one aphid species, especially for polyphagous species, often differ across populations. In the present study, by using high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing, we surveyed in detail the microbiota in natural populations of the cotton aphid Aphis gossypii in China and assessed differences in bacterial diversity with respect to host plant and geography. The microbial community of A. gossypii was dominated by a few heritable symbionts. Arsenophonus was the most dominant secondary symbiont, and Spiroplasma was detected for the first time. Statistical tests and ordination analyses showed that host plants rather than geography seemed to have shaped the associated symbiont composition. Special symbiont communities inhabited the Cucurbitaceae-feeding populations, which supported the ecological specialization of A. gossypii on cucurbits from the viewpoint of symbiotic bacteria. Correlation analysis suggested antagonistic interactions between Buchnera and coexisting secondary symbionts and more complicated interactions between different secondary symbionts. Our findings lend further support to an important role of the host plant in structuring symbiont communities of polyphagous aphids and will improve our understanding of the interactions among phytophagous insects, symbionts, and environments.

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Complex evolution in Aphis gossypii group (Hemiptera: Aphididae), evidence of primary host shift and hybridization between sympatric species

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0245604 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (2) ◽

pp. e0245604

Author(s):

Yerim Lee ◽

Thomas Thieme ◽

Hyojoong Kim

Keyword(s):

Host Plants ◽

Aphis Gossypii ◽

Haplotype Network ◽

Host Shift ◽

Sympatric Species ◽

Aphid Species ◽

Ecological Specialization ◽

Primary Host ◽

New Perspective ◽

Approximate Bayesian

Aphids provide a good model system to understand the ecological speciation concept, since the majority of the species are host-specific, and they spend their entire lifecycle on certain groups of host plants. Aphid species that apparently have wide host plant ranges have often turned out to be complexes of host-specialized biotypes. Here we investigated the various host-associated populations of the two recently diverged species, Aphis gossypii and A. rhamnicola, having multiple primary hosts, to understand the complex evolution with host-associated speciation. Using mitochondrial DNA marker and nine microsatellite loci, we reconstructed the haplotype network, and analyzed the genetic structure and relationships. Approximate Bayesian computation was also used to infer the ancestral primary host and host-associated divergence, which resulted in Rhamnus being the most ancestral host for A. gossypii and A. rhamnicola. As a result, Aphis gossypii and A. rhamnicola do not randomly use their primary and secondary host plants; rather, certain biotypes use only some secondary and specific primary hosts. Some biotypes are possibly in a diverging state through specialization to specific primary hosts. Our results also indicate that a new heteroecious race can commonly be derived from the heteroecious ancestor, showing strong evidence of ecological specialization through a primary host shift in both A. gossypii and A. rhamnicola. Interestingly, A. gossypii and A. rhamnicola shared COI haplotypes with each other, thus there is a possibility of introgression by hybridization between them by cross-sharing same primary hosts. Our results contribute to a new perspective in the study of aphid evolution by identifying complex evolutionary trends in the gossypii sensu lato complex.

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Bacteria as Emerging Indicators of Soil Condition

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.02826-16 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 83 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 73

Author(s):

Syrie M. Hermans ◽

Hannah L. Buckley ◽

Bradley S. Case ◽

Fiona Curran-Cournane ◽

Matthew Taylor ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Bacterial Community ◽

Community Composition ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Soil Condition ◽

Soil Types ◽

Anthropogenic Activity ◽

Content Type ◽

Soil Ecosystems ◽

The Impact

ABSTRACT Bacterial communities are important for the health and productivity of soil ecosystems and have great potential as novel indicators of environmental perturbations. To assess how they are affected by anthropogenic activity and to determine their ability to provide alternative metrics of environmental health, we sought to define which soil variables bacteria respond to across multiple soil types and land uses. We determined, through 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, the composition of bacterial communities in soil samples from 110 natural or human-impacted sites, located up to 300 km apart. Overall, soil bacterial communities varied more in response to changing soil environments than in response to changes in climate or increasing geographic distance. We identified strong correlations between the relative abundances of members of Pirellulaceae and soil pH, members of Gaiellaceae and carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, members of Bradyrhizobium and the levels of Olsen P (a measure of plant available phosphorus), and members of Chitinophagaceae and aluminum concentrations. These relationships between specific soil attributes and individual soil taxa not only highlight ecological characteristics of these organisms but also demonstrate the ability of key bacterial taxonomic groups to reflect the impact of specific anthropogenic activities, even in comparisons of samples across large geographic areas and diverse soil types. Overall, we provide strong evidence that there is scope to use relative taxon abundances as biological indicators of soil condition. IMPORTANCE The impact of land use change and management on soil microbial community composition remains poorly understood. Therefore, we explored the relationship between a wide range of soil factors and soil bacterial community composition. We included variables related to anthropogenic activity and collected samples across a large spatial scale to interrogate the complex relationships between various bacterial community attributes and soil condition. We provide evidence of strong relationships between individual taxa and specific soil attributes even across large spatial scales and soil and land use types. Collectively, we were able to demonstrate the largely untapped potential of microorganisms to indicate the condition of soil and thereby influence the way that we monitor the effects of anthropogenic activity on soil ecosystems into the future.

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Host Plant Determines the Population Size of an Obligate Symbiont (Buchnera aphidicola) in Aphids

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.04131-15 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 82 (8) ◽

pp. 2336-2346 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Yuan-Chen Zhang ◽

Wen-Jie Cao ◽

Le-Rong Zhong ◽

H. Charles J. Godfray ◽

Xiang-Dong Liu

Keyword(s):

Host Plant ◽

Population Size ◽

Plant Extracts ◽

Host Plants ◽

Aphis Gossypii ◽

Buchnera Aphidicola ◽

Content Type ◽

Two Generations ◽

Novel Host ◽

In The Wild

ABSTRACTBuchnera aphidicolais an obligate endosymbiont that provides aphids with several essential nutrients. Though much is known about aphid-Buchnerainteractions, the effect of the host plant onBuchnerapopulation size remains unclear. Here we used quantitative PCR (qPCR) techniques to explore the effects of the host plant onBuchneradensities in the cotton-melon aphid,Aphis gossypii.Buchneratiters were significantly higher in populations that had been reared on cucumber for over 10 years than in populations maintained on cotton for a similar length of time. Aphids collected in the wild from hibiscus and zucchini harbored moreBuchnerasymbionts than those collected from cucumber and cotton. The effect of aphid genotype on the population size ofBuchneradepended on the host plant upon which they fed. When aphids from populations maintained on cucumber or cotton were transferred to novel host plants, host survival andBuchnerapopulation size fluctuated markedly for the first two generations before becoming relatively stable in the third and later generations. Host plant extracts from cucumber, pumpkin, zucchini, and cowpea added to artificial diets led to a significant increase inBuchneratiters in the aphids from the population reared on cotton, while plant extracts from cotton and zucchini led to a decrease inBuchneratiters in the aphids reared on cucumber. Gossypol, a secondary metabolite from cotton, suppressedBuchnerapopulations in populations from both cotton and cucumber, while cucurbitacin from cucurbit plants led to higher densities. Together, the results suggest that host plants influenceBuchnerapopulation processes and that this may provide phenotypic plasticity in host plant use for clonal aphids.

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Phyllosphere Bacterial Community of Floating Macrophytes in Paddy Soil Environments as Revealed by Illumina High-Throughput Sequencing

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.03191-14 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 81 (2) ◽

pp. 522-532 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Wan-Ying Xie ◽

Jian-Qiang Su ◽

Yong-Guan Zhu

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

Paddy Soil ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Bacterial Species ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Core Microbiome ◽

Content Type ◽

Soil Ecosystems ◽

Α Diversity ◽

Floating Macrophytes

ABSTRACTThe phyllosphere of floating macrophytes in paddy soil ecosystems, a unique habitat, may support large microbial communities but remains largely unknown. We tookWolffia australianaas a representative floating plant and investigated its phyllosphere bacterial community and the underlying driving forces of community modulation in paddy soil ecosystems using Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform-based 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The results showed that the phyllosphere ofW. australianaharbored considerably rich communities of bacteria, withProteobacteriaandBacteroidetesas the predominant phyla. The core microbiome in the phyllosphere contained genera such asAcidovorax,Asticcacaulis,Methylibium, andMethylophilus. Complexity of the phyllosphere bacterial communities in terms of class number and α-diversity was reduced compared to those in corresponding water and soil. Furthermore, the bacterial communities exhibited structures significantly different from those in water and soil. These findings and the following redundancy analysis (RDA) suggest that species sorting played an important role in the recruitment of bacterial species in the phyllosphere. The compositional structures of the phyllosphere bacterial communities were modulated predominantly by water physicochemical properties, while the initial soil bacterial communities had limited impact. Taken together, the findings from this study reveal the diversity and uniqueness of the phyllosphere bacterial communities associated with the floating macrophytes in paddy soil environments.

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Cadmium Exposure-Sedum alfrediiPlanting Interactions Shape the Bacterial Community in the Hyperaccumulator Plant Rhizosphere

Applied and Environmental Microbiology ◽

10.1128/aem.02797-17 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 84 (12) ◽

pp. e02797-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Dandi Hou ◽

Zhi Lin ◽

Runze Wang ◽

Jun Ge ◽

Shuai Wei ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Bacterial Community ◽

Contaminated Soils ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

High Throughput Sequencing ◽

Bacterial Community Composition ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Sedum Alfredii ◽

Cd Stress ◽

Metal Hyperaccumulation ◽

Content Type

ABSTRACTRhizospheric bacteria play important roles in plant tolerance and activation of heavy metals. Understanding the bacterial rhizobiome of hyperaccumulators may contribute to the development of optimized phytoextraction for metal-polluted soils. We used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to investigate the rhizospheric bacterial communities of the cadmium (Cd) hyperaccumulating ecotype (HE)Sedum alfrediiin comparison to its nonhyperaccumulating ecotype (NHE). Both planting of two ecotypes ofS. alfrediiand elevated Cd levels significantly decreased bacterial alpha-diversity and altered bacterial community structure in soils. The HE rhizosphere harbored a unique bacterial community differing from those in its bulk soil and NHE counterparts. Several key taxa fromActinobacteria,Bacteroidetes, and TM7 were especially abundant in HE rhizospheres under high Cd stress. The actinobacterial genusStreptomyceswas responsible for the majority of the divergence of bacterial community composition between the HE rhizosphere and other soil samples. In the HE rhizosphere, the abundance ofStreptomyceswas 3.31- to 16.45-fold higher than that in other samples under high Cd stress. These results suggested that both the presence of the hyperaccumulatorS. alfrediiand Cd exposure select for a specialized rhizosphere bacterial community during phytoextraction of Cd-contaminated soils and that key taxa, such as the species affiliated with the genusStreptomyces, may play an important role in metal hyperaccumulation.IMPORTANCESedum alfrediiis a well-known Cd hyperaccumulator native to China. Its potential for extracting Cd relies not only on its powerful uptake, translocation, and tolerance for Cd but also on processes underground (especially rhizosphere microbes) that facilitate root uptake and tolerance of the metal. In this study, a high-throughput sequencing approach was applied to gain insight into the soil-plant-microbe interactions that may influence Cd accumulation in the hyperaccumulatorS. alfredii. Here, we report the investigation of rhizosphere bacterial communities ofS. alfrediiin phytoremediation of different levels of Cd contamination in soils. Moreover, some key taxa in its rhizosphere identified in the study, such as the species affiliated with genusStreptomyces, may shed new light on the involvement of bacteria in phytoextraction of contaminated soils and provide new materials for phytoremediation optimization.

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