title: Microorganisms from aphid honeydew attract and enhance the efficacy of natural enemies.
abstract: Aphids are one of the most serious pests of crops worldwide, causing major yield and economic losses. To control aphids, natural enemies could be an option but their efficacy is sometimes limited by their dispersal in natural environment. Here we report the first isolation of a bacterium from the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum honeydew, Staphylococcus sciuri, which acts as a kairomone enhancing the efficiency of aphid natural enemies. Our findings represent the first case of a host-associated bacterium driving prey location and ovipositional preference for the natural enemy. We show that this bacterium has a key role in tritrophic interactions because it is the direct source of volatiles used to locate prey. Some specific semiochemicals produced by S. sciuri were also identified as significant attractants and ovipositional stimulants. The use of this host-associated bacterium could certainly provide a novel approach to control aphids in field and greenhouse systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Functional and Evolutionary Entomology, University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Passage des Déportés 2, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium. p.leroy@ulg.ac.be
authors.forename: Pascal D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Leroy
authors.forename: Ahmed
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabri
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Heuskin
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thonart
authors.forename: Georges
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lognay
authors.forename: François J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Verheggen
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brostaux
authors.forename: Gary W
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Felton
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haubruge
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000382:microbiology; D001483:Base Sequence; D012634:Bodily Secretions / Q000382:microbiology*; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010675:Pheromones / Q000502:physiology*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013210:Staphylococcus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D010675:Pheromones; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds