Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination

    Appl Environ Microbiol. 2009 Aug;75(16):5328-35. Epub 2009 Jun 19.

    Evolution and diversity of facultative symbionts from the aphid subfamily Lachninae.

    Burke GR, Normark BB, Favret C, Moran NA.

    Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 1041 East Lowell Street, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0088, USA. gburke@arizona.edu

    Many aphids harbor a variety of endosymbiotic bacteria. The functions of these symbionts can range from an obligate nutritional role to a facultative role in protecting their hosts against environmental stresses. One such symbiont is "Candidatus Serratia symbiotica," which is involved in defense against heat and potentially also in aphid nutrition. Lachnid aphids have been the focus of several recent studies investigating the transition of this symbiont from a facultative symbiont to an obligate symbiont. In a phylogenetic analysis of Serratia symbionts from 51 lachnid hosts, we found that diversity in symbiont morphology, distribution, and function is due to multiple independent origins of symbiosis from ancestors belonging to Serratia and possibly also to evolution within distinct symbiont clades. Our results do not support cocladogenesis of "Ca. Serratia symbiotica" with Cinara subgenus Cinara species and weigh against an obligate nutritional role. Finally, we show that species belonging to the subfamily Lachninae have a high incidence of facultative symbiont infection.

    PMID: 19542349 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

    PMCID: 2725466

    Publication Types, MeSH Terms, Substances, Secondary Source ID

    LinkOut - more resources

    Full Text Sources:

    Other Literature Sources:

    Supplemental Content

    Click here to read