scholarly journals Alarm Pheromone Responses Depend on Genotype, but Not on the Presence of Facultative Endosymbionts in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

Insects ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Cesar Auguste Badji ◽  
Zoé Sol-Mochkovitch ◽  
Charlotte Fallais ◽  
Corentin Sochard ◽  
Jean-Christophe Simon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Response Curves ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Locomotor Behaviour ◽  
Hamiltonella Defensa ◽  
Escape Responses ◽  
High Doses

Aphids use an alarm pheromone, E-β farnesene (EBF), to warn conspecifics of potential danger. The antennal sensitivity and behavioural escape responses to EBF can be influenced by different factors. In the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, different biotypes are adapted to different legume species, and within each biotype, different genotypes exist, which can carry or not Hamiltonella defensa, a bacterial symbiont that can confer protection against natural enemies. We investigate here the influence of the aphid genotype and symbiotic status on the escape behaviour using a four-way olfactometer and antennal sensitivity for EBF using electroantennograms (EAGs). Whereas the investigated three genotypes from two biotypes showed significantly different escape and locomotor behaviours in the presence of certain EBF doses, the infection with H. defensa did not significantly modify the escape behaviour and only marginally influenced the locomotor behaviour at high doses of EBF. Dose-response curves of EAG amplitudes after stimulation with EBF differed significantly between aphid genotypes in correlation with behavioural differences, whereas antennal sensitivity to EBF did not change significantly as a function of the symbiotic status. The protective symbiont H. defensa does thus not modify the olfactory sensitivity to the alarm pheromone. How EBF sensitivity is modified between genotypes or biotypes remains to be investigated.

Escape behaviour of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris) in response to alarm pheromone and vibration

1982 ◽  
Vol 60 (10) ◽  
pp. 2245-2252 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Clegg ◽  
C. A. Barlow
Keyword(s):  
Host Plant ◽  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Escape Behaviour ◽  
Pea Aphids ◽  
Escape Responses

Pea aphids respond most effectively to the threat of a predator by walking away or dropping from their host plant. Simulating threat by using vibration and alarm pheromone, both separately and together, we found no evidence that escape responses are heritable, nor that individual aphids have characteristic escape behaviours. On the contrary, the amount of alarm pheromone influenced responses: the more pheromone, the more likely an immediate and effective escape. Vibration preceding alarm pheromone greatly increased responsiveness to pheromone, and aphids were more responsive to pheromone after vibration when feeding on stems than when feeding on the undersides of leaves.

scholarly journals Aphid Heritable Symbiont Exploits Defensive Mutualism

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Doremus ◽  
Kerry M. Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Single Infection ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Defensive Mutualism ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Hamiltonella Defensa ◽  
Alternative Routes

ABSTRACT Insects and other animals commonly form symbioses with heritable bacteria, which can exert large influences on host biology and ecology. The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, is a model for studying effects of infection with heritable facultative symbionts (HFS), and each of its seven common HFS species has been reported to provide resistance to biotic or abiotic stresses. However, one common HFS, called X-type, rarely occurs as a single infection in field populations and instead typically superinfects individual aphids with Hamiltonella defensa, another HFS that protects aphids against attack by parasitic wasps. Using experimental aphid lines comprised of all possible infection combinations in a uniform aphid genotype, we investigated whether the most common strain of X-type provides any of the established benefits associated with aphid HFS as a single infection or superinfection with H. defensa. We found that X-type does not confer protection to any tested threats, including parasitoid wasps, fungal pathogens, or thermal stress. Instead, component fitness assays identified large costs associated with X-type infection, costs which were ameliorated in superinfected aphids. Together these findings suggest that X-type exploits the aphid/H. defensa mutualism and is maintained primarily as a superinfection by “hitchhiking” via the mutualistic benefits provided by another HFS. Exploitative symbionts potentially restrict the functions and distributions of mutualistic symbioses with effects that extend to other community members. IMPORTANCE Maternally transmitted bacterial symbionts are widespread and can have major impacts on the biology of arthropods, including insects of medical and agricultural importance. Given that host fitness and symbiont fitness are tightly linked, inherited symbionts can spread within host populations by providing beneficial services. Many insects, however, are frequently infected with multiple heritable symbiont species, providing potential alternative routes of symbiont maintenance. Here we show that a common pea aphid symbiont called X-type likely employs an exploitative strategy of hitchhiking off the benefits of a protective symbiont, Hamiltonella. Infection with X-type provides none of the benefits conferred by other aphid symbionts and instead results in large fitness costs, costs lessened by superinfection with Hamiltonella. These findings are corroborated by natural infections in field populations, where X-type is mostly found superinfecting aphids with Hamiltonella. Exploitative symbionts may be common in hosts with communities of heritable symbionts and serve to hasten the breakdown of mutualisms.

scholarly journals Genome Analysis of “Candidatus Regiella insecticola” Strain TUt, Facultative Bacterial Symbiont of the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (40) ◽  
Author(s):  
Naruo Nikoh ◽  
Tsutomu Tsuchida ◽  
Ryuichi Koga ◽  
Kenshiro Oshima ◽  
Masahira Hattori ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Genome Analysis ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Draft Genome ◽  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Adaptive Traits ◽  
Host Insect

ABSTRACT The genome of “Candidatus Regiella insecticola” strain TUt, a facultative bacterial symbiont of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, was analyzed. We determined a 2.5-Mb draft genome consisting of 14 contigs; this will contribute to the understanding of the symbiont, which underpins various ecologically adaptive traits of the host insect.

scholarly journals Real-Time Analysis of Alarm Pheromone Emission by the Pea Aphid (Acyrthosiphon Pisum) Under Predation

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezra G. Schwartzberg ◽  
Grit Kunert ◽  
Claudia Stephan ◽  
Anja David ◽  
Ursula S. R. Röse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Time Analysis ◽  
Real Time Analysis ◽  
Pheromone Emission

Pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, cornicle ontogeny as an adaptation to differential predation risk

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (12) ◽  
pp. 2131-2136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward B Mondor ◽  
Bernard D Roitberg
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Pheromone ◽  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Harmonia Axyridis ◽  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Anatomical Structures ◽  
Alarm Signaling ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Pea Aphids

Aphids possess unique anatomical structures called cornicles through which a defensive secretion containing alarm pheromone is often emitted when a predator attacks an aphid. The levels of alarm pheromone in cornicle droplets from the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris), vary considerably during development; however, it is not clear how the length of the cornicle changes during ontogeny. The length of the cornicle relative to the lengths of other body structures may have profound effects on aphid defense and alarm signal diffusion. Using previously published morphological measurements of pea aphids and observing interactions between pea aphids and multicolored Asian ladybird beetles, Harmonia axyridis Pallas, it was observed that pea aphid cornicles elongate proportionally more than other body parts during the first four instars, when alarm-pheromone levels have peaked, than during the fifth (adult) instar, when pheromone levels decline. Pea aphids also are more likely to emit cornicle droplets and daub them onto a predator when the cornicles are undergoing such rapid growth. We suggest that because of a high risk of predation, rapid cornicle growth in juveniles has evolved both for individual defense and for the inclusive fitness benefits of alarm signaling.

scholarly journals A dual-genome microarray for the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, and its obligate bacterial symbiont, Buchnera aphidicola

BMC Genomics ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex CC Wilson ◽  
Helen E Dunbar ◽  
Gregory K Davis ◽  
Wayne B Hunter ◽  
David L Stern ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Buchnera Aphidicola

scholarly journals Impact of Host Developmental Age on the Transcriptome of the Symbiotic Bacterium Buchnera aphidicola in the Pea Aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum)

2009 ◽  
Vol 75 (22) ◽  
pp. 7294-7297 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Bermingham ◽  
Andr�ane Rabatel ◽  
Federica Calevro ◽  
Jos� Vi�uelas ◽  
G�rard Febvay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Flagellar Apparatus ◽  
Symbiotic Bacterium ◽  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Pea Aphid ◽  
Differentially Expressed ◽  
Buchnera Aphidicola ◽  
Functional Differences ◽  
Developmental Age ◽  
Riboflavin Synthesis

ABSTRACT Of the 617 genes from Buchnera aphidicola, the obligate bacterial symbiont of the pea aphid, 23% were differentially expressed in embryos compared to adults. Genes involved in flagellar apparatus and riboflavin synthesis exhibited particularly robust upregulation in embryos, suggesting functional differences between the symbiosis in the adult and embryo insect.

scholarly journals Phage loss and the breakdown of a defensive symbiosis in aphids

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1751) ◽  
pp. 20122103 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Weldon ◽  
M. R. Strand ◽  
K. M. Oliver
Keyword(s):  
Acyrthosiphon Pisum ◽  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Parasitoid Wasps ◽  
Bacterial Symbionts ◽  
Delayed Onset ◽  
Lower Weight ◽  
Terrestrial Arthropods ◽  
Defensive Symbiosis ◽  
Hamiltonella Defensa ◽  
Secondary Endosymbiont

Terrestrial arthropods are often infected with heritable bacterial symbionts, which may themselves be infected by bacteriophages. However, what role, if any, bacteriophages play in the regulation and maintenance of insect–bacteria symbioses is largely unknown. Infection of the aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum by the bacterial symbiont Hamiltonella defensa confers protection against parasitoid wasps, but only when H. defensa is itself infected by the phage A. pisum secondary endosymbiont (APSE). Here, we use a controlled genetic background and correlation-based assays to show that loss of APSE is associated with up to sevenfold increases in the intra-aphid abundance of H. defensa . APSE loss is also associated with severe deleterious effects on aphid fitness: aphids infected with H. defensa lacking APSE have a significantly delayed onset of reproduction, lower weight at adulthood and half as many total offspring as aphids infected with phage-harbouring H. defensa , indicating that phage loss can rapidly lead to the breakdown of the defensive symbiosis. Our results overall indicate that bacteriophages play critical roles in both aphid defence and the maintenance of heritable symbiosis.

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