title: Symbiotic bacterium modifies aphid body color.
abstract: Color variation within populations of the pea aphid influences relative susceptibility to predators and parasites. We have discovered that infection with a facultative endosymbiont of the genus Rickettsiella changes the insects' body color from red to green in natural populations. Approximately 8% of pea aphids collected in Western Europe carried the Rickettsiella infection. The infection increased amounts of blue-green polycyclic quinones, whereas it had less of an effect on yellow-red carotenoid pigments. The effect of the endosymbiont on body color is expected to influence prey-predator interactions, as well as interactions with other endosymbionts.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Entomology Laboratory, RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako 351-0198, Japan. t-tsuchida@riken.jp
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Koga
authors.forename: Mitsuyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Horikawa
authors.forename: Tetsuto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsunoda
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Maoka
authors.forename: Shogo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumoto
authors.forename: Jean-Christophe
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Takema
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukatsu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000378:metabolism; D003116:Color; D044125:Coxiellaceae / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D002338:Carotenoids