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Hessian fly-associated bacteria: transmission, essentiality, and composition.

ABSTRACT: Plant-feeding insects have been recently found to use microbes to manipulate host plant physiology and morphology. Gall midges are one of the largest groups of insects that manipulate host plants extensively. Hessian fly (HF, Mayetiola destructor) is an important pest of wheat and a model system for studying gall midges. To examine the role of bacteria in parasitism, a systematic analysis of bacteria associated with HF was performed for the first time. Diverse bacteria were found in different developmental HF stages. Fluorescent in situ hybridization detected a bacteriocyte-like structure in developing eggs. Bacterial DNA was also detected in eggs by PCR using primers targeted to different bacterial groups. These results indicated that HF hosted different types of bacteria that were maternally transmitted to the next generation. Eliminating bacteria from the insect with antibiotics resulted in high mortality of HF larvae, indicating that symbiotic bacteria are essential for the insect to survive on wheat seedlings. A preliminary survey identified various types of bacteria associated with different HF stages, including the genera Enterobacter, Pantoea, Stenotrophomonas, Pseudomonas, Bacillus, Ochrobactrum, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes, Nitrosomonas, Arcanobacterium, Microbacterium, Paenibacillus, and Klebsiella. Similar bacteria were also found specifically in HF-infested susceptible wheat, suggesting that HF larvae had either transmitted bacteria into plant tissue or brought secondary infection of bacteria to the wheat host. The bacteria associated with wheat seedlings may play an essential role in the wheat-HF interaction.

SUBMITTER: Bansal R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3156707 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Hessian fly-associated bacteria: transmission, essentiality, and composition.

Bansal Raman R Hulbert Scot S Schemerhorn Brandi B Reese John C JC Whitworth R Jeff RJ Stuart Jeffrey J JJ Chen Ming-Shun MS

PloS one 20110816 8

Plant-feeding insects have been recently found to use microbes to manipulate host plant physiology and morphology. Gall midges are one of the largest groups of insects that manipulate host plants extensively. Hessian fly (HF, Mayetiola destructor) is an important pest of wheat and a model system for studying gall midges. To examine the role of bacteria in parasitism, a systematic analysis of bacteria associated with HF was performed for the first time. Diverse bacteria were found in different de ...[more]

PMID: 21858016

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Project description:The Hessian fly, Mayetiola destructor Say (Diptera, Cecidomyiidae), is a pest of wheat and belongs to a group of gall-inducing herbivores. This species has a unique life history and several ecological features that differentiate it from other Diptera such as Drosophila melanogaster and blood-feeding mosquitoes. These features include a short, non-feeding adult life stage (1-2 days) and the use of a long-range sex pheromone produced and released by adult females. Sex pheromones are detected by members of the odorant receptor (OR) family within the Lepidoptera, but no receptors for similar long-range sex pheromones have been characterized from the Diptera. Previously, 122 OR genes have been annotated from the Hessian fly genome, with many of them showing sex-biased expression in the antennae. Here we have expressed, in HEK293 cells, five MdesORs that display male-biased expression in antennae, and we have identified MdesOR115 as a Hessian fly sex pheromone receptor. MdesOR115 responds primarily to the sex pheromone component (2S,8E,10E)-8,10-tridecadien-2-yl acetate, and secondarily to the corresponding Z,E-isomer. Certain sensory neuron membrane proteins (i.e., SNMP1) are important for responses of pheromone receptors in flies and moths. The Hessian fly genome is unusual in that it encodes six SNMP1 paralogs, of which five are expressed in antennae. We co-expressed each of the five antennal SNMP1 paralogs together with each of the five candidate sex pheromone receptors from the Hessian fly and found that they do not influence the response of MdesOR115, nor do they confer responsiveness in any of the non-responsive ORs to any of the sex pheromone components identified to date in the Hessian fly. Using Western blots, we detected protein expression of MdesOrco, all MdesSNMPs, and all MdesORs except for MdesOR113, potentially explaining the lack of response from this OR. In conclusion, we report the first functional characterization of an OR from the Cecidomyiidae, extending the role of ORs as long-range sex pheromone detectors from the Lepidoptera into the Diptera.

Dataset Information

Hessian fly-associated bacteria: transmission, essentiality, and composition.

Publications

Hessian fly-associated bacteria: transmission, essentiality, and composition.

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