This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Russell, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Moran, N. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Russell, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Moran, N. A.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Russell, J. A.
Right arrow Articles by Moran, N. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7987-7994, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7987-7994.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Horizontal Transfer of Bacterial Symbionts: Heritability and Fitness Effects in a Novel Aphid Host

Jacob A. Russell* and Nancy A. Moran

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Received 20 May 2005/ Accepted 11 August 2005

Members of several bacterial lineages are known only as symbionts of insects and move among hosts through maternal transmission. Such vertical transfer promotes strong fidelity within these associations, favoring the evolution of microbially mediated effects that improve host fitness. However, phylogenetic evidence indicates occasional horizontal transfer among different insect species, suggesting that some microbial symbionts retain a generalized ability to infect multiple hosts. Here we examine the abilities of three vertically transmitted bacteria from the Gammaproteobacteria to infect and spread within a novel host species, the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum. Using microinjection, we transferred symbionts from three species of natural aphid hosts into a common host background, comparing transmission efficiencies between novel symbionts and those naturally infecting A. pisum. We also examined the fitness effects of two novel symbionts to determine whether they should persist under natural selection acting at the host level. Our results reveal that these heritable bacteria vary in their capacities to utilize A. pisum as a host. One of three novel symbionts failed to undergo efficient maternal transmission in A. pisum, and one of the two efficiently transmitted bacteria depressed aphid growth rates. Although these findings reveal that negative fitness effects and low transmission efficiency can prevent the establishment of a new infection following horizontal transmission, they also indicate that some symbionts can overcome these obstacles, accounting for their widespread distributions across aphids and related insects.

* Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology Labs, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: (617) 495-4012. Fax: (617) 495-5667. E-mail: jrussell{at}oeb.harvard.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2005, p. 7987-7994, Vol. 71, No. 12
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.12.7987-7994.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • von Burg, S., Ferrari, J., Muller, C. B, Vorburger, C. (2008). Genetic variation and covariation of susceptibility to parasitoids in the aphid Myzus persicae: no evidence for trade-offs. Proc R Soc B 275: 1089-1094 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Perotti, M. A., Allen, J. M., Reed, D. L., Braig, H. R. (2007). Host-symbiont interactions of the primary endosymbiont of human head and body lice. FASEB J. 21: 1058-1066 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Weiss, B. L., Mouchotte, R., Rio, R. V. M., Wu, Y.-n., Wu, Z., Heddi, A., Aksoy, S. (2006). Interspecific Transfer of Bacterial Endosymbionts between Tsetse Fly Species: Infection Establishment and Effect on Host Fitness. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 7013-7021 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kageyama, D., Anbutsu, H., Watada, M., Hosokawa, T., Shimada, M., Fukatsu, T. (2006). Prevalence of a Non-Male-Killing Spiroplasma in Natural Populations of Drosophila hydei.. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 72: 6667-6673 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Moran, N. A., Dunbar, H. E. (2006). Sexual acquisition of beneficial symbionts in aphids. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 12803-12806 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Oliver, K. M, Moran, N. A, Hunter, M. S (2006). Costs and benefits of a superinfection of facultative symbionts in aphids. Proc R Soc B 273: 1273-1280 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»