| Küchler, S; Renz, P; Dettner, K; Kehl, S: Diversity of symbiotic organs and bacterial endosymbionts among lygaeoid bugs of the families Blissidae and Lygaeidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea), Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 78(8), 2648-2659 (2012) | |
| Abstract: Here we present comparative data on localization and identity of intracellular symbionts among the superfamily Lygaeoidea (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha). Five different lygaeoid species from families Blissidae and Lygaeidae (sensu stricto; including the subfamilies Lygaeinae and Orsillinae) were analyzed. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) revealed that all studied bugs possess paired bacteriomes that are differently shaped in the abdomen and harbor specific endosymbionts therein. The endosymbionts were also detected in female gonads and at the anterior pole of developing eggs, indicating vertical transmission of the endosymbionts via ovarial passage in contrast to posthatch symbiont transmission commonly found among pentatomoid bugs (Pentatomomorpha: Pentatomoidea). Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA and groEL genes showed that the endosymbionts of Ischnodemus sabuleti, Arocatus longiceps, Belonochilus numenius, Orsillus depressus and Ortholomus punctipennis constitute at least four distinct clades in the Gammaproteobacteria. The endosymbiont phylogeny did not agree with the host phylogeny based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) gene, but a local co-speciating pattern within the subfamily Orsillinae. Meanwhile, the endosymbiont of Belonochilus numenius (Lygaeidae: Orsillinae) was, although harbored in paired bacteriomes as in other lygaeoid bugs of related genera Nysius, Ortholomus and Orsillus, phylogenetically close to Candidatus Rohrkolberia cinguli, the endosymbiont of Chilacis typhae (Lygaeoidea: Artheneidae), suggesting an endosymbiont replacement in this lineage. The diverse endosymbionts and the differently shaped bacteriomes may reflect independent evolutionary origins of the endosymbiotic systems among lygaeoid bugs. |
