ena-STUDY-Institut de recherche experimentale et clinique - IREC-31-10-2017-14:53:24:775-1420
A large-scale field study of bacterial communities in cereal aphid across Morocco
Insects are frequently associated with bacteria that can have significant ecological and evolutionary impacts on their hosts. Much progress has been made to unravel the diversity and effects of obligate and facultative endosymbionts. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the influence of environmental factors to microbiome composition of aphids. The current work assessed the diversity of bacterial communities of five cereal aphid species collected across Morocco and covering a wide range of environmental conditions. Deep 16S rRNA sequencing enabled us to identify 17 bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU). Facultative endosymbionts were totally absent in D. noxia, R. maïdis and R. padi, whereas a high relative prevalence of R. insecticola and S. symbiotica was observed in S. avenae and S. maydis, respectively. In addition to these symbiotic partners, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Pantoea, Erwinia and Staphyloccocus were also identified in the aphid species R. padi, R. maïdis and S. avenae, suggesting that the aphid microbiome is not limited to the presence of endosymbiotic bacteria. Beside the significant association between host species and bacterial communities, a significant inverse correlation was also found between altitude and a-diversity.
Insects are frequently associated with bacteria that can have significant ecological and evolutionary impacts on their hosts. Much progress has been made to unravel the diversity and effects of obligate and facultative endosymbionts. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the influence of environmental factors to microbiome composition of aphids. The current work assessed the diversity of bacterial communities of five cereal aphid species collected across Morocco and covering a wide range of environmental conditions. Deep 16S rRNA sequencing enabled us to identify 17 bacterial Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU). Facultative endosymbionts were totally absent in D. noxia, R. maïdis and R. padi, whereas a high relative prevalence of R. insecticola and S. symbiotica was observed in S. avenae and S. maydis, respectively. In addition to these symbiotic partners, Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Pantoea, Erwinia and Staphyloccocus were also identified in the aphid species R. padi, R. maïdis and S. avenae, suggesting that the aphid microbiome is not limited to the presence of endosymbiotic bacteria. Beside the significant association between host species and bacterial communities, a significant inverse correlation was also found between altitude and a-diversity.