Work

Evolution and Diversity of Facultative Symbionts from the Aphid Subfamily Lachninae

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: Many aphids harbor a variety of endosymbiotic bacteria. The functions of these symbionts can range from an obligate nutritional role to a facultative role in protecting their hosts against environmental stresses. One such symbiont is "Candidatus Serratia symbiotica," which is involved in defense against heat and potentially also in aphid nutrition. Lachnid aphids have been the focus of several recent studies investigating the transition of this symbiont from a facultative symbiont to an obligate symbiont. In a phylogenetic analysis of Serratia symbionts from 51 lachnid hosts, we found that diversity in symbiont morphology, distribution, and function is due to multiple independent origins of symbiosis from ancestors belonging to Serratia and possibly also to evolution within distinct symbiont clades. Our results do not support cocladogenesis of "Ca. Serratia symbiotica" with Cinara subgenus Cinara species and weigh against an obligate nutritional role. Finally, we show that species belonging to the subfamily Lachninae have a high incidence of facultative symbiont infection.

Source: Applied and Environmental Microbiology

DOI: 10.1128/aem.00717-09

Authors: Gaelen R. Burke, Benjamin B. Normark, Colin Favret, Nancy A. Moran

Institutions: University of Arizona, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Language: English

Topic: Insect symbiosis and bacterial influences

Subfield: Insect Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Science Foundation, Office of International Science and Engineering

Awards: Biocomplexity in the Environment/GEN-EN: Response of Host and Symbiont Genomes to Environmental Stress and its Ecological Consequences, International Research Fellow Awards Program: Molecular andGenomic Evolution of Obligately Parthenogenetic Aphids