Journal article
Another tool in the toolbox: Aphid‐specific Wolbachia protect against fungal pathogens
Environmental microbiology, v 26(11), e70005
Nov 2024
PMID: 39562330
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Aphids harbor nine common facultative symbionts, most mediating one or more ecological interactions. Wolbachia pipientis , well‐studied in other arthropods, remains poorly characterized in aphids. In Pentalonia nigronervosa and P. caladii , global pests of banana, Wolbachia was initially hypothesized to function as a co‐obligate nutritional symbiont alongside the traditional obligate Buchnera . However, genomic analyses failed to support this role. Our sampling across numerous populations revealed that more than 80% of Pentalonia aphids carried an M‐supergroup strain of Wolbachia ( wPni ). The lack of fixation further supports a facultative status for Wolbachia , while high infection frequencies in these entirely asexual aphids strongly suggest Wolbachia confers net fitness benefits. Finding no correlation between Wolbachia presence and food plant use, we challenged Wolbachia ‐infected aphids with common natural enemies. Bioassays revealed that Wolbachia conferred significant protection against a specialized fungal pathogen ( Pandora neoaphidis ) but not against generalist pathogens or parasitoids. Wolbachia also improved aphid fitness in the absence of enemy challenge. Thus, we identified the first clear benefits for aphid‐associated Wolbachia and M‐supergroup strains specifically. Aphid‐ Wolbachia systems provide unique opportunities to merge key models of symbiosis to better understand infection dynamics and mechanisms underpinning symbiont‐mediated phenotypes.
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Details
- Title
- Another tool in the toolbox: Aphid‐specific Wolbachia protect against fungal pathogens
- Creators
- Clesson H. V. Higashi - Drexel UniversityVilas Patel - University of GeorgiaBryan Kamalaker - University of GeorgiaRahul Inaganti - Drexel UniversityAlberto Bressan - University of Hawaii SystemJacob A. Russell - Drexel UniversityKerry M. Oliver - University of Georgia
- Publication Details
- Environmental microbiology, v 26(11), e70005
- Publisher
- WILEY
- Number of pages
- 30
- Grant note
- National Science FoundationUSDA NIFA: 1754302, 2240392, 1754597, 2240393 NSF: 2109582 NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology Program
We thank Dr. John Thomas (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry, Australia) and Dr Ross Miller (Western Tropical Research Center; University of Guam) for providing aphids for this study. We thank Dr. Susan Halbert for her help in finding Pentalonia aphids in Gainesville, FL. We also thank April Greenwell, Shizu Watanabe and Jessika Santamaria for their help collecting and processing the aphid samples and data curation. The research was funded in part by USDA NIFA titled: Investigating the Phenotypic Effect of Wolbachia in Parthenogenetic Aphid Populations, NSF awards 1754302 and 2240392 to KMO and 1754597 and 2240393 to JAR, and by the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology Program Grant #2109582 awarded to CHVH.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES); Biology
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001371680600001
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85209994488
- Other Identifier
- 991021963115704721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Microbiology