Phylogenetic analyses and characteristics of the microbiomes from five mealybugs (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae)

Abstract

Associations between Sternorrhyncha insects and intracellular bacteria are common in nature. Mealybugs are destructive pests that seriously threaten the production of agriculture and forestry. Mealybugs have evolved intimate endosymbiotic relationships with bacteria, which provide them with essential amino acids, vitamins, and other nutrients. In this study, the divergence of five mealybugs was analyzed based up the sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI). Meanwhile, the distinct regions of the 16S rRNA gene of primary symbionts in the mealybugs were sequenced. Finally, high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) techniques were used to study the microbial abundance and diversity in mealybugs. Molecular phylogenetic analyses revealed that these five mealybugs were subdivided into two different clusters. One cluster of mealybugs ( Dysmicoccus neobrevipes , Pseudococcus comstocki , and Planococcus minor ) harbored the primary endosymbiont “ Candidatus Tremblaya princeps,” and another cluster ( Phenacoccus solenopsis and Phenacoccus solani ) harbored “ Ca . Tremblaya phenacola.” The mtCOI sequence divergence between the two clusters was similar to the 16S rRNA sequence divergence between T. princeps and T. phenacola . Thus, we concluded that the symbiont phylogeny was largely concordant with the host phylogeny. The HTS showed that the microbial abundance and diversity within P. solani and P. solenopsis were highly similar, and there was lower overall species richness compared to the other mealybugs. Among the five mealybugs, we also found significant differences in Shannon diversity and observed species. These results provide a theoretical basis for further research on the coevolution of mealybugs and their symbiotic microorganisms. These findings are also useful for research on the effect of symbiont diversity on the pest status of mealybugs in agricultural systems.

Host species identity shapes the diversity and structure of insect microbiota

“…Several previous studies tested whether different insect species (mostly within the same genus or trophic niche) associate with different microbial communities. Differences between insect species have been found in aphids (Fakhour et al, 2018; Gallo‐Franco et al, 2019; McLean et al, 2019; Zepeda‐Paulo et al, 2018), mealybugs (Lin et al, 2019), reduviids (Rodríguez‐Ruano et al, 2018), fruit flies (Ventura et al, 2018; Yong et al, 2017), beetles (Hulcr et al, 2012; Kolasa et al, 2019), silkworms (Chen et al, 2018), Lepidoptera (Liu et al, 2020; van Schooten et al, 2018), mosquitoes (Mancini et al, 2018), and bees and wasps (Skrodenytė‐Arbačiauskienė et al, 2019; Suenami et al, 2019). Conversely, other studies did not report differences when comparing different insect species (Berasategui et al, 2016; Meng et al, 2019; Ramalho et al, 2017).…”

Host species identity shapes the diversity and structure of insect microbiota

“…Several previous studies tested whether different insect species (mostly within the same genus or trophic niche) associate with different microbial communities. Differences between insect species have been found in aphids (Zepeda-Paulo et al, 2018;Fakhour et al, 2018;McLean et al, 2019;Gallo-Franco et al, 2019), mealybugs (Lin et al, 2019), reduviids (Rodríguez-Ruano et al, 2018), fruit flies (Ventura et al, 2018;Yong et al, 2017), beetles (Hulcr et al, 2012;Kolasa et al, 2019), silkworms (Chen et al, 2018), lepidopera (van Schooten et al, 2018;Liu et al, 2020), mosquitoes (Mancini et al, 2018), bees and wasps (Skrodenytė-Arbačiauskienė et al, 2019;Suenami et al, 2019). Conversely, other studies did not report differences when comparing different insect species (Berasategui et al, 2016;Ramalho et al, 2017;Meng et al, 2019a).…”

Molecular identification of endosymbiotic bacteria associated with Ferrisia virgata (Homoptera: Coccoidea: Pseudococcidae) infesting cassava (Manihot esculenta)

“…(Kosztarab and Kozar, 1988;Nagrare et al, 2009). The mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene is widely used for the identification of insects (De Barro et al, 2011;Rao et al, 2011;Dan et al, 2019). Candidatus Tremblaya princeps, is a primary endosymbiont found nearly in all mealybug species (Baumann and Baumann, 2005;Downie and Gullan, 2005).…”