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Distribution and Variation of Bacterial Endosymbiont and “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” Titer in the Huanglongbing Insect Vector, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

The Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, is an economic insect pest in most citrus-growing regions and the vector of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus’ (CLas), one of at least three known bacteria associated with Huanglongbing (HLB or citrus greening disease). D. citri harbors bacterial endosymbionts, including Wolbachia pipientis (strain Wolbachia wDi), ‘Candidatus Carsonella ruddii,’ and ‘Candidatus Profftella armatura.’ Many important functions of these bacteria can be inferred from their genome sequences, but their interactions with each other, CLas, and their D. citri host are poorly understood. In the present study, the titers of the endosymbionts in different tissues, in each sex, and in insects reared on healthy citrus (referred to as unexposed) and CLas-infected citrus (referred to as CLas-exposed) D. citri were investigated using real-time, quantitative PCR (qPCR) using two different quantitative approaches. Wolbachia and CLas were detected in all insect tissues. The titer of Wolbachia was higher in heads of CLas-exposed males as compared to unexposed males. In males and females, Wolbachia titer was highest in the Malpighian tubules. The highest titer of CLas was observed in the gut. Profftella and Carsonella titers were significantly reduced in the bacteriome of CLas-exposed males compared with that of unexposed males, but this effect was not observed in females. In ovaries of CLas-exposed females, the Profftella and Carsonella titers were increased as compared to non-exposed females. CLas appeared to influence the overall levels of the symbionts but did not drastically perturb the overall microbial community structure. In all the assessed tissues, CLas titer in males was significantly higher than that of females using absolute quantification. These data provide a better understanding of multi-trophic interactions regulating symbiont dynamics in the HLB pathosystem.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for the study was provided by the California Citrus Research Board grant numbers 5300-155 and 5300-163 (to MH) and the USDA NIFA SCRI grant number 8062-22410-006-45-I (to MH). We thank three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful and constructive feedback.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Pathology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Saeed Hosseinzadeh & Masoud Shams-Bakhsh

  2. Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Saeed Hosseinzadeh, Marina Mann, Somayeh Fattah-Hosseini & Michelle Heck

  3. Plant Pathology and Plant Microbe Biology Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Marina Mann & Michelle Heck

  4. Plant Protection Research Department, Hormozgan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Bandar Abbas, Iran

    Abdoolnabi Bagheri

  5. Department of Entomology, Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Mehrabadi

  6. USDA ARS Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research Unit, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Michelle Heck

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  1. Saeed Hosseinzadeh
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  2. Masoud Shams-Bakhsh
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Correspondence to Masoud Shams-Bakhsh or Michelle Heck.

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Figure S1

Different tissues of D. citri that were dissected and used in this study. Dissections occurred under natural light in 1× PBST. a Side view of an adult female D. citri. b Side view of an adult male D. citri. c Whole gut with Malpighian tubules. d Separated head attached to salivary glands. e Gut after removing the Malpighian tubules. f Separated Malpighian tubules. g Bacteriome. h Ovary. i Male reproductive system (scale bar = 200 μm). (PNG 922 kb)

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Hosseinzadeh, S., Shams-Bakhsh, M., Mann, M. et al. Distribution and Variation of Bacterial Endosymbiont and “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” Titer in the Huanglongbing Insect Vector, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama. Microb Ecol 78, 206–222 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-018-1290-1

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