Uncovering Active Bacterial Symbionts in Pollen-Feeding Beetles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiliano Mancini ◽  
Simone Sabatelli ◽  
Yi Hu ◽  
Sara Frasca ◽  
Andrea Di Giulio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Nutrient Content ◽  
Phytophagous Insects ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Brassicogethes Aeneus ◽  
Pollen Feeding ◽  
Active Feeding ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
Pollen Beetles ◽  
High Metabolic Activity

Abstract Microbial symbionts enable many phytophagous insects to specialize on plant-based diets through a range of metabolic services. Pollen comprises one plant tissue consumed by such herbivores. While rich in lipids and protein, its nutrient content is often imbalanced and difficult-to-access due to a digestibly recalcitrant cell wall. Pollen quality can be further degraded by harmful allelochemicals. To identify microbes that may aid in palynivory, we performed cDNA-based 16S rRNA metabarcoding on three related pollen beetles (Nitidulidae: Meligethinae) exhibiting different dietary breadths: Brassicogethes aeneus, B. matronalis, and Meligethes atratus. Nine bacterial symbionts (i.e. 97% OTUs) exhibited high metabolic activity during active feeding. Subsequent PCR surveys revealed varying prevalence of those from three Rickettsialles genera - Lariskella, Rickettsia and Wolbachia - within beetle populations. Our findings lay the groundwork for future studies on the influence of phylogeny and diet on palynivorous insect microbiomes, and roles of symbionts in the use of challenging diets.

scholarly journals Bacterial influence on the maintenance of symbiotic yeast through Drosophila metamorphosis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Guilhot ◽  
Antoine Rombaut ◽  
Anne Xuéreb ◽  
Kate Howell ◽  
Simon Fellous
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Symbiotic Bacteria ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Tripartite Symbiosis ◽  
Summary Statement ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Microbial Symbionts

AbstractInteractions between microbial symbionts of metazoan hosts are emerging as key features of symbiotic systems. Little is known about the role of such interactions on the maintenance of symbiosis through host’s life cycle. We studied the influence of symbiotic bacteria on the maintenance of symbiotic yeast through metamorphosis of the fly Drosophila melanogaster. To this end we mimicked the development of larvae in natural fruit. In absence of bacteria yeast was never found in young adults. However, yeast could maintain through metamorphosis when larvae were inoculated with symbiotic bacteria isolated from D. melanogaster faeces. Furthermore, an Enterobacteriaceae favoured yeast transstadial maintenance. Because yeast is a critical symbiont of D. melanogaster flies, bacterial influence on host-yeast association may have consequences for the evolution of insect-yeast-bacteria tripartite symbiosis and their cooperation.Summary statementBacterial symbionts of Drosophila influence yeast maintenance through fly metamorphosis, a novel observation that may have consequences for the evolution of insect-yeast-bacteria interactions.

scholarly journals Ploidy dynamics in aphid host cells harboring bacterial symbionts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomonari Nozaki ◽  
Shuji Shigenobu
Keyword(s):  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Biological Significance ◽  
Large Cell ◽  
Host Cells ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Buchnera Aphidicola ◽  
Ploidy Levels ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Aphid Host

AbstractAphids have evolved bacteriocytes or symbiotic host cells that harbor the obligate mutualistic bacterium Buchnera aphidicola. Because of the large cell size (approximately 100 μm in diameter) of bacteriocytes and their pivotal role in nutritional symbiosis, researchers have considered that these cells are highly polyploid and assumed that bacteriocyte polyploidy may be essential for the symbiotic relationship between the aphid and the bacterium. However, little is known about the ploidy levels and dynamics of aphid bacteriocytes. Here, we quantitatively analyzed the ploidy levels in the bacteriocytes of the pea-aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum. Image-based fluorometry revealed the hyper polyploidy of the bacteriocytes ranging from 16- to 256-ploidy throughout the lifecycle. Bacteriocytes of adult parthenogenetic viviparous females were mainly 64-128C DNA levels, while those of sexual morphs (oviparous females and males) were consisted of 64C, and 32-64C cells, respectively. During post-embryonic development of viviparous females, the ploidy level of bacteriocytes increased substantially, from 16-32C at birth to 128-256C in actively reproducing adults. These results suggest that the ploidy levels are dynamically regulated among phenotypes and during development. Our comprehensive and quantitative data provides a foundation for future studies to understand the functional roles and biological significance of the polyploidy of insect bacteriocytes.

scholarly journals Evidence for Succession and Putative Metabolic Roles of Fungi and Bacteria in the Farming Mutualism of the Ambrosia Beetle Xyleborus affinis

mSystems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Ibarra-Juarez ◽  
M. A. J. Burton ◽  
P. H. W. Biedermann ◽  
L. Cruz ◽  
D. Desgarennes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Essential Amino Acid ◽  
Enzymatic Degradation ◽  
Ambrosia Beetle ◽  
Atmospheric Nitrogen ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Amino Acid Production ◽  
Ambrosia Beetles ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Ambrosia Fungi

Ambrosia beetles farm their own food fungi within tunnel systems in wood and are among the three insect lineages performing agriculture (the others are fungus-farming ants and termites). In ambrosia beetles, primary ambrosia fungus cultivars have been regarded essential, whereas other microbes have been more or less ignored. Our KEGG analyses suggest so far unknown roles of yeasts and bacterial symbionts, by preparing the tunnel walls for the primary ambrosia fungi. This preparation includes enzymatic degradation of wood, essential amino acid production, and nitrogen fixation. The latter is especially exciting because if it turns out to be present in vivo in ambrosia beetles, all farming animals (including humans) are dependent on atmospheric nitrogen fertilization of their crops. As previous internal transcribed spacer (ITS) metabarcoding approaches failed on covering the primary ambrosia fungi, our 18S metabarcoding approach can also serve as a template for future studies on the ambrosia beetle-fungus symbiosis.

scholarly journals Highly variable fidelity drives symbiont community composition in an obligate symbiosis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Mankowski ◽  
Manuel Kleiner ◽  
Christer Erséus ◽  
Nikolaus Leisch ◽  
Yui Sato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Host Species ◽  
Waste Recycling ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Essential Services ◽  
The World ◽  
Evolutionary Success ◽  
Variable Fidelity ◽  
Microbial Symbionts

AbstractMany animals are obligately associated with microbial symbionts that provide essential services such as nutrition or protection against predators. It is assumed that in such obligate associations fidelity between the host and its symbionts must be high to ensure the evolutionary success of the symbiosis. We show here that this is not the case in marine oligochaete worms, despite the fact that they are so dependent on their bacterial symbionts for their nutrition and waste recycling that they have lost their digestive and excretory systems. Our metagenomic analyses of 64 gutless oligochaete species from around the world revealed highly variable levels of fidelity not only across symbiont lineages, but also within symbiont clades. We hypothesize that in gutless oligochaetes, selection within host species for locally adapted and temporally stable symbiont communities leads to varying levels of symbiont fidelity and shuffles the composition of symbiont assemblages across geographic and evolutionary scales.

Impact of flower rewards on phytophagous insects: importance of pollen and nectar for the development of the pollen beetle (Brassicogethes aeneus)

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 779-785
Author(s):  
Gaëtan Seimandi Corda ◽  
Margot Leblanc ◽  
Sébastien Faure ◽  
Anne Marie Cortesero
Keyword(s):  
Phytophagous Insects ◽  
Pollen Beetle ◽  
Brassicogethes Aeneus

Comparative analyses of salivary proteins from the facultative symbiont-infected and uninfected Tetranychus truncatus

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Xi Zhu ◽  
Yue-Ling Song ◽  
Hai-Jian Huang ◽  
Dian-Shu Zhao ◽  
Xue Xia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spider Mite ◽  
Spider Mites ◽  
Salivary Proteins ◽  
Herbivorous Insects ◽  
Agricultural Pest ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Plant Insect Interactions ◽  
Insect Interactions ◽  
Shock Proteins

Salivary proteins of herbivorous insects play a central role in plant-insect interactions. Spider mite Tetranychus truncatus is a polyphagous agricultural pest harboring various bacterial symbionts. However, whether endosymbionts infection in spider mite alters the host saliva protein remains largely unknown. Here, by using shotgun LC-MS/MS analysis, we identified and characterized the components of saliva in Wolbachia-Spiroplasma infected and uninfected T. truncatus. In total, 177 putative salivary proteins were identified. The function of many proteins remains unknown, while in numerous cases belong to catalytic activity and binding proteins. The saliva enzymes included oxidoreductase, hydratase, isomerase, transferase, protease, esterase, ribonuclease, kinase, lyase and phosphorylase. Other proteins, such as ATP-binding, actin, heat shock proteins and vitellogenin were also detected in the T. truncatus saliva. In addition, we found some of the saliva proteins are mite strain-specific salivary proteins—14 proteins were only found in Wolbachia-Spiroplasma infected spider mite, and 6 proteins were only found in Wolbachia-Spiroplasma uninfected spider mite. Overall, this is the first research to identify and characterize the proteins in saliva of facultative symbionts-infected and uninfected spider mites, T. truncatus. Our novel findings revealed that the presence of bacterial symbionts affected the saliva components of spider mites, opening the path for future studies.

scholarly journals Horizontal transmission of the insect symbiont Rickettsia is plant-mediated

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1734) ◽  
pp. 1791-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayelet Caspi-Fluger ◽  
Moshe Inbar ◽  
Netta Mozes-Daube ◽  
Nurit Katzir ◽  
Vitaly Portnoy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Blood Feeding ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Phytophagous Insects ◽  
Cotton Leaf ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Phytophagous Insect ◽  
Black Nightshade ◽  
Accelerated Evolution

Bacteria in the genus Rickettsia , best known as vertebrate pathogens vectored by blood-feeding arthropods, can also be found in phytophagous insects. The presence of closely related bacterial symbionts in evolutionarily distant arthropod hosts presupposes a means of horizontal transmission, but no mechanism for this transmission has been described. Using a combination of experiments with live insects, molecular analyses and microscopy, we found that Rickettsia were transferred from an insect host (the whitefly Bemisia tabaci ) to a plant, moved inside the phloem, and could be acquired by other whiteflies. In one experiment, Rickettsia was transferred from the whitefly host to leaves of cotton, basil and black nightshade, where the bacteria were restricted to the phloem cells of the plant. In another experiment, Rickettsia -free adult whiteflies, physically segregated but sharing a cotton leaf with Rickettsia -plus individuals, acquired the Rickettsia at a high rate. Plants can serve as a reservoir for horizontal transmission of Rickettsia , a mechanism which may explain the occurrence of phylogenetically similar symbionts among unrelated phytophagous insect species. This plant-mediated transmission route may also exist in other insect–symbiont systems and, since symbionts may play a critical role in the ecology and evolution of their hosts, serve as an immediate and powerful tool for accelerated evolution.

scholarly journals Transmission of Bacterial Symbionts With and Without Genome Erosion Between a Beetle Host and the Plant Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jürgen C. Wierz ◽  
Paul Gaube ◽  
Dagmar Klebsch ◽  
Martin Kaltenpoth ◽  
Laura V. Flórez
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Mode ◽  
Plant Pathogens ◽  
Phytophagous Insects ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Reduced Genome ◽  
Darkling Beetle ◽  
Plant Environment ◽  
Bacterial Transmission ◽  
Soybean Plants

Many phytophagous insects harbor symbiotic bacteria that can be transmitted vertically from parents to offspring, or acquired horizontally from unrelated hosts or the environment. In the latter case, plants are a potential route for symbiont transfer and can thus foster a tripartite interaction between microbe, insect, and plant. Here, we focus on two bacterial symbionts of the darkling beetle Lagria villosa that belong to the genus Burkholderia; the culturable strain B. gladioli Lv-StA and the reduced-genome strain Burkholderia Lv-StB. The strains can be transmitted vertically and confer protection to the beetle’s eggs, but Lv-StA can also proliferate in plants, and both symbiont strains have presumably evolved from plant pathogens. Notably, little is known about the role of the environment for the transmission dynamics and the maintenance of the symbionts. Through manipulative assays, we demonstrate the transfer of the symbionts from the beetle to wheat, rice and soybean plants, as well as leaf litter. In addition, we confirm that aposymbiotic larvae can pick up Lv-StA from dry leaves and the symbiont can successfully establish in the beetle’s symbiotic organs. Also, we show that the presence of plants and soil in the environment improves symbiont maintenance. These results indicate that the symbionts of L. villosa beetles are still capable of interacting with plants despite signatures of genome erosion and suggest that a mixed-mode of bacterial transmission is likely key for the persistence of the symbiosis.

scholarly journals Experimental warming reduces gut prokaryotic diversity, survival and thermal tolerance of the eastern subterranean termite, Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel A. Arango ◽  
Sean D. Schoville ◽  
Cameron R. Currie ◽  
Camila Carlos-Shanley
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Reticulitermes Flavipes ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Integral Role ◽  
Potential Link ◽  
Microbial Symbionts ◽  
Temperature Exposure ◽  
Eastern Subterranean Termite ◽  
The Impact

AbstractUnderstanding the effects of environmental disturbances on the health and physiology of insects is crucial in predicting the impact of climate change on their distribution, abundance, and ecology. As microbial symbionts have been shown to play an integral role in a diversity of functions within the insect host, research examining how organisms adapt to environmental fluctuations should include their associated microbiota. Previous studies have shown that temperature affects the diversity of protists in termite gut, but less is known about the bacterial symbionts. In this study, subterranean termites (Reticulitermes flavipes (Kollar)) were exposed to three different temperature treatments characterized as low (15 °C), medium (27 °C), and high (35 °C). Results showed low temperature exposed termites had significantly lower CTmin and significantly higher SCP values compared to termites from medium or high temperature groups. This suggests that pre-exposure to cold allowed termites to stay active longer in decreasing temperatures but caused termites to freeze at higher temperatures. High temperature exposure had the most deleterious effects on termites with a significant reduction in termite survival as well as reduced ability to withstand cold stress. The microbial community of high temperature exposed termites showed a reduction in bacterial richness and decreased relative abundance of Spirochaetes, Elusimicrobia, and methanogenic Euryarchaeota. Our results indicate a potential link between gut bacterial symbionts and termite’s physiological response to environmental changes and highlight the need to consider microbial symbionts in studies relating to insect thermosensitivity.

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