title: Cardinium in Plagiomerus diaspidis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae).
abstract: The bacterial symbiont Cardinium (Bacteroidetes) was previously implicated in the thelytokous reproduction of the parasitoid Plagiomerus diaspidis Crawford (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae). Horizontal transmission of the symbiont among the cactus scale Diaspis echinocacti Bouché (Homoptera: Diaspididae) and its hymenopteran parasitoids has been suggested. In this study, the bacteria associated with D. echinocacti, its parasitoids P. diaspidis and Aphytis sp. (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), and the hyperparasitoid Marietta leopardina Motschulsky (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae) were characterized using molecular fingerprinting techniques, and the localization of Cardinium in P. diaspidis was studied using fluorescence in situ hybridizations (FISH). Cardinium was the only bacterium found in P. diaspidis, but it could not be detected in any of the other insects tested. The symbiont was specifically located in the reproductive tissues of its P. diaspidis host.
authors.affiliation: The Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Department of Vegetable Crops, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Ramat Yishay 30095, Israel.
authors.forename: Yiftach
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Matalon
authors.forename: Nurit
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Katzir
authors.forename: Yuval
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gottlieb
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Portnoy
authors.forename: Einat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zchori-Fein
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D041963:Bacteroidetes / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious; D005260:Female; D016905:Gram-Negative Bacterial Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000635:transmission; D006927:Hymenoptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D010053:Ovary / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000502:physiology