Abstract
Insect bacterial symbionts are ubiquitous, however, only a few groups of host families have been well studied in relation to their associations with microbes. The determination of the phylogenetic relationships among bacteria associated with different species within an insect family can provide insights into the biology and evolution of these interactions. We studied the phylogenetic placement of vertically transmitted bacterial symbionts associated with the posterior midgut (crypt-bearing) region of pentatomid stink bugs (Hemiptera, Pentatomidae). Our results demonstrate that different host species carried one major bacterium in their midgut. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained from the midgut of stink bugs placed all symbionts in a clade with Erwinia and Pantoea species, both plant-associated bacteria. Results indicate that symbiont monophyly occurs among recently diverged taxa (e.g., within a genus) but does not occur in the Pentatomidae. Results suggest that these vertically transmitted symbionts are occasionally replaced by other taxonomically similar bacteria over evolutionary time. Our findings highlight how the evolutionary history of hemipteran symbionts in unexplored host families may have unpredictable levels of complexity.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Kent Daane and Jocelyn Millar (University of California, Berkeley and Riverside, respectively), William Haines and Jesse Eiban (University of Hawaii), and José Garcia (Universidade de Sao Paulo) for providing some of the insects used in this study. We thank and acknowledge Alexander Purcell, Daniel Rubinoff, and our laboratory colleagues for helpful discussions and comments on the manuscript. We thank David Rider for providing comments on the taxonomic status of the insect species used in this study.
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Prado, S.S., Almeida, R.P.P. Phylogenetic Placement of Pentatomid Stink Bug Gut Symbionts. Curr Microbiol 58, 64–69 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-008-9267-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-008-9267-9