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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3646-3652, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3646-3652.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Identification and Localization of a Rickettsia sp. in Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae)

Yuval Gottlieb,1 Murad Ghanim,1* Elad Chiel,2 Dan Gerling,3 Vitaly Portnoy,4 Shimon Steinberg,2 Galil Tzuri,4 A. Rami Horowitz,5 Eduard Belausov,1 Neta Mozes-Daube,4 Svetlana Kontsedalov,1 Moshe Gershon,3 Shunit Gal,3 Nurit Katzir,4 and Einat Zchori-Fein4

The Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Department of Entomology, Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250,1 Bio-Bee Biological Systems, Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu, Beit Shean Valley 10810,2 Tel Aviv University, Department of Zoology, Ramat Aviv 69978,3 ARO, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, P.O. Box 1021, Ramat Yishay 30095,4 ARO, Gilat Research Center, Mobile Post Negev 85280, Israel5

Received 11 October 2005/ Accepted 8 February 2006

Whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) are sap-sucking insects that harbor "Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum," an obligatory symbiotic bacterium which is housed in a special organ called the bacteriome. These insects are also home for a diverse facultative microbial community which may include Hamiltonella, Arsenophonus, Fritchea, Wolbachia, and Cardinium spp. In this study, the bacteria associated with a B biotype of the sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci were characterized using molecular fingerprinting techniques, and a Rickettsia sp. was detected for the first time in this insect family. Rickettsia sp. distribution, transmission and localization were studied using PCR and fluorescence in situ hybridizations (FISH). Rickettsia was found in all 20 Israeli B. tabaci populations screened but not in all individuals within each population. A FISH analysis of B. tabaci eggs, nymphs, and adults revealed a unique concentration of Rickettsia around the gut and follicle cells, as well as a random distribution in the hemolymph. We postulate that the Rickettsia enters the oocyte together with the bacteriocytes, leaves these symbiont-housing cells when the egg is laid, multiplies and spreads throughout the egg during embryogenesis and, subsequently, disperses throughout the body of the hatching nymph, excluding the bacteriomes. Although the role Rickettsia plays in the biology of the whitefly is currently unknown, the vertical transmission on the one hand and the partial within-population infection on the other suggest a phenotype that is advantageous under certain conditions but may be deleterious enough to prevent fixation under others.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute of Plant Protection, Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, P.O. Box 6, Bet-Dagan 50250, Israel. Phone: 972-3-968-3911. Fax: 972-3-968-3445. E-mail: ghanim{at}volcani.agri.gov.il.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, May 2006, p. 3646-3652, Vol. 72, No. 5
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.72.5.3646-3652.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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