at Google ScholarTitle data
Küchler, Stefan ; Gibbs, George ; Burckhardt, Daniel ; Dettner, Konrad ; Hartung, Viktor:
Diversity of bacterial endosymbionts and bacteria–host co-evolution in Gondwanan relict moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha: Peloridiidae).
In: Environmental Microbiology.
Vol. 15
(2013)
Issue 7
.
- pp. 2031-2042.
ISSN 1462-2920
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12101
Abstract in another language
Many hemipterans are associated with symbioticbacteria, which are usually found intracellularly inspecific bacteriomes. In this study, we provide thefirst molecular identification of the bacteriomeassociated,obligate endosymbiont in a Gondwananrelict insect taxon, the moss bugs (Hemiptera: Coleorrhyncha:Peloridiidae), which represents one of theoldest lineages within the Hemiptera. Endosymbioticassociations of fifteen species of the family were analysed,covering representatives from South America,Australia/Tasmania and New Zealand. Phylogeneticanalysis based on four kilobases of 16S–23S rRNAgene fragments showed that the obligate endosymbiontof Peloridiidae constitute a so far unknown groupof Gammaproteobacteria which is named here ‘CandidatusEvansia muelleri’. They are related to the sternorrhynchousendosymbionts Candidatus Portieraand Candidatus Carsonella. Comparison of theprimary-endosymbiont and host (COI + 28S rRNA)trees showed overall congruence indicating cospeciationthe hosts and their symbionts. The distributionof the endosymbiont within the insect bodyand its transmission was studied using FISH. Theendosymbionts were detected endocellularly in a pairof bacteriomes as well as in the ‘symbiont ball’ of theposterior pole of each developing oocyte. Furthermore,ultrastructural analysis of the Malpighiantubules revealed that most host nuclei are infected byan endosymbiotic, intranuclear bacterium that wasdetermined as an Alphaproteobacterium of the genusRickettsia.