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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2003, p. 7216-7223, Vol. 69, No. 12
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.12.7216-7223.2003
Copyright © 2003, American
Society for
Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
A. C. Darby,1,
T. J. Daniell,2 G. Webster,3,
F. J. F. van Veen,4 H.C.J. Godfray,4 J. I. Prosser,3 and A. E. Douglas1*
Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5YW,1 NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot SL5 7PY, England,4 Plant-Soil Interactions, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA,2 Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of Aberdeen Institute of Medical Sciences, Foresterhill, Aberdeen AB25 2ZD,Scotland3
Received 6 June 2003/ Accepted 22 September 2003
The
bacterial communities of aphids were investigated by terminal
restriction fragment length polymorphism and denaturing gradient gel
electrophoresis analysis of 16S rRNA gene fragments generated by PCR
with general eubacterial primers. By both methods, the
-proteobacterium Buchnera was detected in
laboratory cultures of six parthenogenetic lines of the pea aphid
Acyrthosiphon pisum and one line of the black bean aphid
Aphis fabae, and one or more of four previously described
bacterial taxa were also detected in all aphid lines except one of
A. pisum. These latter bacteria, collectively
known as secondary symbionts or accessory bacteria, comprised three
taxa of
-proteobacteria (R-type [PASS], T-type
[PABS], and U-type [PAUS]) and a rickettsia (S-type
[PAR]). Complementary analysis of aphids from natural
populations of four aphid species (A. pisum [n
= 74], Amphorophora rubi [n
= 109], Aphis sarothamni [n
= 42], and Microlophium carnosum [n
= 101]) from a single geographical location revealed
Buchnera and up to three taxa of accessory bacteria, but no
other bacterial taxa, in each aphid. The prevalence of accessory
bacterial taxa varied significantly among aphid species but not with
the sampling month (between June and August 2000). These results
indicate that the accessory bacterial taxa are distributed across
multiple aphid species, although with variable prevalence, and that
laboratory culture does not generally result in a shift in the
bacterial community in aphids. Both the transmission patterns of the
accessory bacteria between individual aphids and their impact on aphid
fitness are suggested to influence the prevalence of accessory
bacterial taxa in natural aphid
populations.
Present address: Department of Biomolecular Sciences, UMIST, Manchester M60 IQD, England.
Present address: Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, The University of Edinburgh, Easter Bush Veterinary Centre, Roslin EH25 9RG, Scotland.
Present address: Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3TL, Wales.
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