Happens in the best of subfamilies

Author(s)
Alejandro Manzano-Marín, Gitta Szabo, Jean-Christophe Simon, Matthias Horn, Amparo Latorre
Abstract

Virtually all aphids maintain an obligate mutualistic symbiosis with bacteria from the Buchnera genus, which produce essential nutrients for their aphid hosts. Most aphids from the Lachninae subfamily have been consistently found to house additional endosymbionts, mainly Serratia symbiotica. This apparent dependence on secondary endosymbionts was proposed to have been triggered by the loss of the riboflavin biosynthetic capability by Buchnera in the Lachninae last common ancestor. However, an integral large-scale analysis of secondary endosymbionts in the Lachninae is still missing, hampering the interpretation of the evolutionary and genomic analyses of these endosymbionts. Here, we analysed the endosymbionts of selected representatives from seven different Lachninae genera and nineteen species, spanning four tribes, both by FISH (exploring the symbionts' morphology and tissue tropism) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We demonstrate that all analysed aphids possess dual symbiotic systems, and while most harbour S. symbiotica, some have undergone symbiont replacement by other phylogenetically-distinct bacterial taxa. We found that these secondary associates display contrasting cell shapes and tissue tropism, and some appear to be lineage-specific. We propose a scenario for symbiont establishment in the Lachninae, followed by changes in the symbiont's tissue tropism and symbiont replacement events, thereby highlighting the extraordinary versatility of host-symbiont interactions. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Universitat de València, INRA - Institut national de la recherche agronomique
Journal
Environmental Microbiology
Volume
19
Pages
393–408
No. of pages
16
ISSN
1462-2912
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1101/059816
Publication date
01-2017
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106022 Microbiology
Keywords
Portal url
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/happens-in-the-best-of-subfamilies(178439ca-b369-45a5-a400-68e69d702508).html