Differences in Microbiota Between Two Multilocus Lineages of the Sugarcane Aphid (Melanaphis sacchari) in the Continental United States
Document Type
Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1093/aesa/saaa003
Journal Title
Annals of the Entomological Society of America
Publication Date
2020
Abstract
The sugarcane aphid (SCA), Melanaphis Sacchari (Zehntner) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), has been considered an invasive pest of sugarcane in the continental United States since 1977. Then, in 2013, SCA abruptly became a serious pest of U.S. sorghum and is now a sorghum pest in 22 states across the continental United States. Changes in insect-associated microbial community composition are known to influence host-plant range in aphids. In this study, we assessed whether changes in microbiota composition may explain the SCA outbreak in U.S. sorghum. We characterized the SCA bacterial microbiota on sugarcane and grain sorghum in four U.S. states, using a metabarcoding approach. In addition, we used taxon-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers to screen for bacteria commonly reported in aphid species. As anticipated, all SCA harbored the primary aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola, an obligate mutualistic bacterial symbiont. Interestingly, none of the secondary symbionts, facultative bacteria typically associated with aphids (e.g., Arsenophonus, Hamiltonella, Regiella) were present in either the metabarcoding data or PCR screens (with the exception of Rickettsiella and Serratia, which were detected by metabarcoding at low abundances <1%). However, our metabarcoding detected bacteria not previously identified in aphids (Arcobacter, Bifidobacterium, Citrobacter). Lastly, we found microbial host-associated differentiation in aphids that seems to correspond to genetically distinct aphid lineages that prefer to feed on grain sorghum (MLL-F) versus sugarcane (MLL-D).
Publisher Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America.
Recommended Citation
Holt, Jocelyn R, Alex Styer, Jennifer A White, J Scott Armstrong, Samuel Nibouche, Laurent Costet, Antonino Malacrinò, et al. 2020. “Differences in Microbiota Between Two Multilocus Lineages of the Sugarcane Aphid (Melanaphis Sacchari) in the Continental United States.” Annals of the Entomological Society of America 113 (4): 257–65. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/saaa003.
Comments
This article is open access. The definitive article can be found on website of the Annals of the Entomological Society of America at: https://academic.oup.com/aesa.