Evolutionary studies suggest that 200-250 million years ago an aphid ancestor was infected with a free-living eubacterium. The latter became established within aphid cells. Host and endosymbiont (genus Buchnera) became interdependent and unable to survive without each other. The growth of Buchnera became integrated with that of the aphids, which acquired the endosymbionts from their mothers before birth. Speciation of host lineages was paralleled by divergence of associated endosymbiont lineages, resulting in parallel evolution of Buchnera and aphids. Present day Buchnera retains many of the properties of its free-living ancestor, containing genes for proteins involved in DNA replication, transcription, and translation, as well as chaperonins and proteins involved in secretion, energy-yielding metabolism, and amino acid biosynthesis. Some of these processes are also observed in isolated endosymbiont cells. Genetic and physiological studies indicate that Buchnera can synthesize methionine, cysteine, and tryptophan and supply these amino acids to the aphid host. In the case of some fast-growing species of aphids, the overproduction of tryptophan by Buchnera involves plasmid-amplification of the gene coding for anthranilate synthase, the first enzyme of the tryptophan biosynthetic pathway. These recent studies provide a beginning in our understanding of Buchnera and its role in the endosymbiosis with aphids.

Abstract. Previous studies of phylogenetic congruence between aphids and their symbiotic bacteria (Buchnera) supported long-term vertical transmission of symbionts. However, those studies were based on distantly related aphids and would not have revealed horizontal transfer of symbionts among closely related hosts. Aphid species of the genus Uroleucon are closely related phylogenetically and overlap in geographic ranges, habitats, and parasitoids. To examine support for congruence of phylogenies of Buchnera and Uroleucon, sequences from four mitochondrial, one nuclear, and one endosymbiont gene (trpB) were obtained. Congruence of phylogenies based on pooled aphid genes with phylogenies based on trpB was highly significant: Most nodes resolved by trpB corresponded to nodes resolved by the pooled aphid genes. Furthermore, no nodes were both inconsistent between the trees and strongly supported in both trees. Two kinds of analyses testing the null hypothesis of perfect congruence between pairwise combinations of datasets and tree topologies were performed: the Kishino-Hasegawa test and the likelihood-ratio test. Both tests indicated significant disagreement among most pairwise combinations of mitochondrial, nuclear, and symbiont datasets. Because rampant recombination among mitochondrial genomes of different aphid species is unlikely, inaccurate assumptions in the evolutionary models underlying these tests appear to be causing the hypothesis of a shared history to be incorrectly rejected. Moreover, trpB was more consistent with the aphid genes as a set than any single aphid gene was with the others, suggesting that the symbionts show the same phylogeny as the aphids. Overall, analyses support the interpretation that symbionts and aphids have undergone strict cospeciation, with no horizontal transmission of symbionts even among closely related, ecologically similar aphid hosts.

A major limitation on ability to reconstruct bacterial evolution is the lack of dated ancestors that might be used to evaluate and calibrate molecular clocks. Vertically transmitted symbionts that have cospeciated with animal hosts offer a firm basis for calibrating sequence evolution in bacteria, since fossils of the hosts can be used to date divergence events. Sequences for a functionally diverse set of genes have been obtained for bacterial endosymbionts (Buchnera) from two pairs of aphid host species, each pair diverging 50-70 MYA. Using these dates and estimated numbers of Buchnera generations per year, we calculated rates of base substitution for neutral and selected sites of protein-coding genes and overall rates for rRNA genes. Buchnera shows homogeneity among loci with regard to synonymous rate. The Buchnera synonymous rate is about twice that for low-codon-bias genes of Escherichia coli-Salmonella typhimurium on an absolute timescale, and fourfold higher on a generational timescale. Nonsynonymous substitutions show a greater rate disparity in favor of Buchnera, a result consistent with a genomewide decrease in selection efficiency in Buchnera. Ratios of synonymous to nonsynonymous substitutions differ for the two pairs of Buchnera, indicating that selection efficiency varies among lineages. Like numerous other intracellular bacteria, such as Rickettsia and Wolbachia, Buchnera has accumulated amino acids with codons rich in A or T. Phylogenetic reconstruction of amino acid replacements indicates that replacements yielding increased A + T predominated early in the evolution of Buchnera, with the trend slowing or stopping during the last 50 Myr. This suggests that base composition in Buchnera has approached a limit enforced by selective constraint acting on protein function.

Aphids (superfamily Aphidoidea) contain eubacterial endosymbionts localized within specialized cells (mycetocytes). The endosymbionts are essential for the survival of the aphid hosts. Sequence analyses of the 16S rRNAs from endosymbionts of 11 aphid species from seven tribes and four families have indicated that the endosymbionts are monophyletic. Furthermore, phylogenetic relationships within the symbiont clade parallel the relationships of the corresponding aphid hosts. Our findings suggest that this endocytobiotic association was established in a common ancestor of the four aphid families with subsequent diversification into the present species of aphids and their endosymbionts.

Previous studies have established that psyllids (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) contain primary endosymbionts, designated as Carsonella ruddii, which cospeciate with the psyllid host. This association appears to be the consequence of a single infection of a psyllid ancestor with a bacterium. Some psyllids may have additional secondary (S-) endosymbionts. We have cloned and sequenced the 16S-23S ribosomal RNA genes of seven representative psyllid S-endosymbionts. Comparison of the S-endosymbiont phylogenetic trees with those of C. ruddii indicates a lack of congruence, a finding consistent with multiple infections of psyllids with different precursors of the S-endosymbionts and/or possible horizontal transmission. Additional comparisons indicate that the S-endosymbionts are related to members of the Enterobacteriaceae as well as to several other endosymbionts and insect-associated bacteria.

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