Bacterial endosymbionts of Bactericera maculipennis and three mitochondrial haplotypes of B. cockerelli (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Triozidae)

Authors: Cooper, William - Rodney; Horton, David; Swisher Grimm, Kylie; KREY, KAROL - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA); WILDUNG, MARK - Washington State University

Submitted to: Environmental Entomology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/25/2021
Publication Date: 12/3/2021
Citation: Cooper, W.R., Horton, D.R., Swisher Grimm, K.D., Krey, K., Wildung, M.R. 2021. Bacterial endosymbionts of Bactericera maculipennis and three mitochondrial haplotypes of B. cockerelli (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Triozidae). Environmental Entomology. 51(1):94-107. https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab133.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ee/nvab133

Interpretive Summary: Insects often harbor bacterial endosymbionts that provide them with nutrition, or protection from natural enemies, insecticides, pathogens, and plant defenses. Researchers at the USDA-ARS in Wapato, WA and Washington State University identified endosymbionts found in potato psyllid and compared them with endosymbionts found in two related non-pest psyllids, bindweed psyllid and atriplex psyllid. They found that bacterial communities were more similar in more closely related psyllids than in more distantly related psyllids and confirmed previous reports that both potato psyllid and bindweed psyllid harbor the pathogen that causes zebra chip disease of potato. They also discovered that potato psyllid harbors two distinct strains of the endosymbiont, Sodalis, which provides other insects with nutritional benefit. Results of this study provide a foundation to conduct more in-depth research on interactions and co-evolution between psyllids and their bacterial endosymbionts

Technical Abstract: Insects harbor bacterial endosymbionts that provide their hosts with nutritional benefit or with protection against natural enemies, plant defenses, or insecticides. We used high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rDNA gene to identify and compare endosymbiont communities of Bactericera maculipennis (Crawford) and the western, central, and northwestern haplotypes of B. cockerelli (Šulc) (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Triozidae). Both species are native to North America, are known to harbor the plant pathogen “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum”, and develop on shared host plants within the Convolvulaceae. The Old World species Heterotrioza chenopodii (Reuter) (Psylloidea: Triozidae), now found in North America, was included as an unrelated outgroup. 16S sequencing confirmed that both Bactericera species harbor “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum” and revealed that both species harbor unique strains of Wolbachia and Sodalis. However, the presence of Wolbachia and Sodalis varied among haplotypes of B. cockerelli. The central and western haplotypes harbored the same two strains of Wolbachia, which was confirmed by sequencing the wsp and ftsZ genes following conventional PCR. Wolbachia was also detected in very low abundance from the northwestern haplotype by high-throughput sequencing of 16S, but was not detected from this haplotype using conventional PCR. The northwestern and central haplotypes harbored two strains of Sodalis that were not detected in the western haplotype. Heterotrioza chenopodii harbored an entirely different community of endosymbionts compared with the Bactericera spp. that included Rickettsia and an unidentified bacterium in the Enterobacteriaceae. Results of this study provide a foundation for further research on the interactions and co-evolution between psyllids and their bacterial endosymbionts