title: The symbiotic role of O-antigen of Burkholderia symbiont in association with host Riptortus pedestris.
abstract: Riptortus pedestris harboring Burkholderia symbiont is a useful symbiosis model to study the molecular interactions between insects and bacteria. We recently reported that the lipopolysaccharide O-antigen is absent in the Burkholderia symbionts isolated from Riptortus guts. Here, we investigated the symbiotic role of O-antigen comprehensively in the Riptortus-Burkholderia model. Firstly, Burkholderia mutant strains deficient of O-antigen biosynthesis genes were generated and confirmed for their different patterns of the lipopolysaccharide by electrophoretic analysis. The O-antigen-deficient mutant strains initially exhibited a reduction of infectivity, having significantly lower level of symbiont population at the second-instar stage. However, both the wild-type and O-antigen mutant symbionts exhibited a similar level of symbiont population from the third-instar stage, indicating that the O-antigen deficiency did not affect the bacterial persistence in the host midgut. Taken together, we showed that the lipopolysaccharide O-antigen of gut symbiont plays an exclusive role in the initial symbiotic association.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Kosin University College of Medicine, Busan, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jiyeun Kate
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Global Research Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea.
authors.forename: Ha Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Global Research Laboratory, College of Pharmacy, Pusan National University, Busan, South Korea. Electronic address: brlee@pusan.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Bok Luel
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D019117:Burkholderia / Q000502:physiology*; D020062:Heteroptera / Q000382:microbiology*; D007814:Larva / Q000382:microbiology; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D019081:O Antigens / Q000502:physiology*; D011112:Polymyxin B / Q000494:pharmacology; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D019081:O Antigens; D011112:Polymyxin B
keywords: Burkholderia symbiont; Insect gut symbiosis; Lipopolysaccharide; O-antigen; Riptortus pedestris