title: Can the tight co-speciation between reed beetles (Col., Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae) and their bacterial endosymbionts, which provide cocoon material, clarify the deeper phylogeny of the hosts?
abstract: In most mutualistic symbioses of insects and intracellular bacteria, the endosymbionts provide additional nutrients to a host that feeds on an unbalanced diet. A strictly vertical transmission leads to co-speciation between the two partners. We have investigated an insect-bacteria relationship with a non-nutritional basis. The reed beetles (Donaciinae) harbor bacteria that produce a secretion used by the larvae for building a cocoon for pupation in mud underwater. The 16S rRNA of the bacteria and the cytochrome c oxidase I and elongation factor 1alpha of the beetles have been partially sequenced. The bacterial and the host phylogeny were highly congruent. Larger taxonomic units (genera) and host species groups/pairs have been recovered in the bacterial phylogeny. The symbiont data still cannot clarify the hitherto unresolved deeper phylogeny of the hosts, which is interpreted as a sign of rapid adaptive radiation of the reed beetles soon after their origin. The rate of sequence evolution among/within host species is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Zoological Institute, Molecular Evolutionary Biology, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany. Gregor.Koelsch@uni-hamburg.de
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kölsch
authors.forename: Bo V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Pedersen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*; D001517:Coleoptera / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000382:microbiology; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial / Q000235:genetics; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017344:Genes, Insect; D049810:Genetic Speciation; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004272:DNA, Mitochondrial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S