A strain of the bacterial symbiont
            <i>Regiella insecticola</i>
            protects aphids against parasitoids

Vorburger, Christoph; Gehrer, Lukas; Rodríguez, Paula Pérez

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0642

Cited by 220 publications

(202 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…The fact that both symbiont and intrinsic resistance was high in Medicago clones suggest that the two mechanisms are responding to similar selection pressures rather than one substituting for the other (although data from other biotypes are needed to confirm this). In addition, the X-type symbiont which remains present in the 'cured' lines of two Medicago clones could also provide some resistance; the role of X-type is not well understood [10], but aphid symbionts other than H. defensa have previously been shown to improve resistance, albeit to a lesser extent [11,60].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for specificity in symbiont-conferred protection against parasitoids

2015

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Many insects harbour facultative symbiotic bacteria, some of which have been shown to provide resistance against natural enemies. One of the best-known protective symbionts is Hamiltonella defensa, which in pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) confers resistance against attack by parasitoid wasps in the genus Aphidius (Braconidae). We asked (i) whether this symbiont also confers protection against a phylogenetically distant group of parasitoids (Aphelinidae) and (ii) whether there are consistent differences in the effects of bacteria found in pea aphid biotypes adapted to different host plants. We found that some H. defensa strains do provide protection against an aphelinid parasitoid Aphelinus abdominalis. Hamiltonella defensa from the Lotus biotype provided high resistance to A. abdominalis and moderate to low resistance to Aphidius ervi, while the reverse was seen from Medicago biotype isolates. Aphids from Ononis showed no evidence of symbiont-mediated protection against either wasp species and were relatively vulnerable to both. Our results may reflect the different selection pressures exerted by the parasitoid community on aphids feeding on different host plants, and could help explain the maintenance of genetic diversity in bacterial symbionts.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for specificity in symbiont-conferred protection against parasitoids

2015

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“…Even though the direct consequences of secondary symbionts on population or community dynamics have been little studied, it is probable that these effects have major consequences for communities. For example, in the case of protection against natural enemies, it is likely that a population with a high incidence of protective symbionts would support a smaller population of natural enemies, while in turn, the presence of natural enemies selects for increased resistance and therefore higher frequencies of protective symbionts [31,35,64]. This arms race could therefore lead to observations of negative or positive associations between symbiont and natural enemy frequencies.…”

Section: Are Heritable Endosymbionts Affecting Important Ecological Tmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial symbionts in insects or the story of communities affecting communities

Ferrari

Vavre

2011

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

293

270

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Bacterial symbionts are widespread in insects and other animals. Most of them are predominantly vertically transmitted, along with their hosts' genes, and thus extend the heritable genetic variation present in one species. These passengers have a variety of repercussions on the host's phenotypes: besides the cost imposed on the host for maintaining the symbiont population, they can provide fitness advantages to the host or manipulate the host's reproduction. We argue that insect symbioses are ideal model systems for community genetics. First, bacterial symbionts directly or indirectly affect the interactions with other species within a community. Examples include their involvement in modifying the use of host plants by phytophagous insects, in providing resistance to natural enemies, but also in reducing the global genetic diversity or gene flow between populations within some species. Second, one emerging picture in insect symbioses is that many species are simultaneously infected with more than one symbiont, which permits studying the factors that shape bacterial communities; for example, horizontal transmission, interactions between host genotype, symbiont genotype and the environment and interactions among symbionts. One conclusion is that insects' symbiotic complements are dynamic communities that affect and are affected by the communities in which they are embedded.

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“…We expect that future experimental work on different donor -recipient combinations might identify more drastic effects of Regiella transfection, leading to the establishment of a tractable model system to investigate the process of symbiont-mediated acquisition of novel host plant. Previous work on A. pisum has demonstrated that Regiella is involved not only in plant adaptation but also in pathogen immunity and parasitoid resistance [14,15]. Intra-and interspecific horizontal transfers of Regiella infection may play some roles in the …”

Section: Conclusion and Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific symbiont transfection confers a novel ecological trait to the recipient insect

et al. 2010

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In Japan, pea aphids Acyrthosiphon pisum mainly feed on vetch and clover, and many aphid clones produce more progeny on vetch than on clover. In this context, particular genotypes of the facultative symbiont Regiella insecticola enhance reproduction of infected pea aphids specifically on clover, thereby broadening the suitable food plant range of the insect. A species that is sympatric to A. pisum, vetch aphids Megoura crassicauda, are commonly found on vetch but not on clover. Laboratory rearing of M. crassicauda strains revealed active reproduction on vetch but substantially no reproduction on clover. Experimental transfection of Regiella from A. pisum to M. crassicauda by haemolymph injection established stable and heritable infection in the recipients, although no Regiella infection has been detected in natural populations of M. crassicauda. Different strains of Regiellatransfected M. crassicauda grew and reproduced on vetch, but exhibited lower fitness in comparison with corresponding uninfected aphid strains. Strikingly, the Regiella-transfected M. crassicauda exhibited improved survival and some reproduction on clover. These results suggest that Regiella has the potential to confer an ecological trait, adaptation to clover, on novel insect hosts, and also account for why Regiella is able to infect M. crassicauda but is scarcely found in these aphid populations.

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A strain of the bacterial symbiont Regiella insecticola protects aphids against parasitoids

Cited by 220 publications

References 15 publications

Evidence for specificity in symbiont-conferred protection against parasitoids

Evidence for specificity in symbiont-conferred protection against parasitoids

Bacterial symbionts in insects or the story of communities affecting communities

Interspecific symbiont transfection confers a novel ecological trait to the recipient insect

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