Prevalence of <I>Candidatus</I> Erwinia dacicola in Wild and Laboratory Olive Fruit Fly Populations and Across Developmental Stages

Abstract

The microbiome of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Gmelin), a worldwide pest of olives (Olea europaea L.), has been examined for >100 yr as part of efforts to identify bacteria that are plant pathogens vectored by the fly or are beneficial endosymbionts essential for the fly's survival and thus targets for possible biological control. Because tephritid fruit flies feed on free-living bacteria in their environment, distinguishing between the transient, acquired bacteria of their diet and persistent, resident bacteria that are vertically transmitted endosymbionts is difficult. Several culture-dependent and -independent studies have identified a diversity of species in the olive fruit fly microbiome, but they have not distinguished the roles of the microbes. Candidatus Erwinia dacicola, has been proposed to be a coevolved endosymbiont of the olive fruit fly; however, this was based on limited samples from two Italian populations. Our study shows that C. Erwinia dacicola was present in all New and Old World populations and in the majority of individuals of all life stages sampled in 2 yr. Olive fruit flies reared on olives in the laboratory had frequencies of C. Erwinia dacicola similar to that of wild populations; however, flies reared on artificial diets containing antibiotics in the laboratory rarely had the endosymbiont. The relative abundance of C. Erwinia dacicola varied across development stages, being most abundant in ovipositing females and larvae. This uniform presence of C. Erwini dacicola suggests that it is a persistent, resident endosymbiont of the olive fruit fly.

Brood Ball-Mediated Transmission of Microbiome Members in the Dung Beetle, Onthophagus taurus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae)

“…No 16S rRNA PCR amplicons were observed for DNA extracted from the rinse water from surface sterilized beetles (Figure S1, Lane RW). Under the same conditions, DNA extracted from Bactrocera oleae , the olive fruit fly, which is known to have bacterial symbionts that amplify with the primer pair 10F-1507R [21,62] yielded the ~1500 bp amplicon and served as a positive control (Figure S1, Lane +). The negative control with sterile water as the template did not produce an amplicon (Figure S1, Lane -).…”

Hybridization and Use Of Grapes as an Oviposition Substrate Improves the Adaptation of Olive Fly Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Artificial Rearing Conditions

“…The olive fly appears to have an intimate mutualistic relationship with certain symbiotic bacteria (e.g. Erwinia dacicola) (Estes, 2012 ), which allows the flies to utilize and consume the phenolic compounds present in the olive fruit pulp (Ben-Yosef et al, 2010).…”

A 454 Survey Reveals the Community Composition and Core Microbiome of the Common Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius) across an Urban Landscape

“…Although assessments of the microbiome of various arthropods is an area of very active research [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15], the potential for natural, spatial variation in the microbiome has been elucidated in only a handful of insect species [8], [10], [16]- perhaps most thoroughly in the model species Drosophila [9], [17]. Interrogating spatial variation in the core microbiome of a range of insects, and specifically arthropods that may vector disease is of interest for three main reasons: first, the maintenance of a cohort of microbial species across many insect populations may provide information about important components of host physiology; second, the potential for interaction between endosymbiont species may be elucidated by wide-ranging surveys of microbial taxon abundance and frequency of co-occurrence, and finally, surveys of the spatial variation in microbiomes may identify populations in regions of importance to human and/or agricultural health that may then be targeted for remediation.…”