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Spatio-temporal changes in endosymbiont diversity and composition in the African cassava whitefly, Bemisia tabaci SSA1

Spatio-temporal changes in endosymbiont diversity and composition in the African cassava whitefly, Bemisia tabaci SSA1

El Hamss, Hajar, Maruthi, M.N. ORCID: 0000-0002-8060-866X , Ally, Hadija, Omongo, Chris, Wang, Hualing, van Brunschot, Sharon ORCID: 0000-0002-9634-9463 , Colvin, John and Delatte, Helene (2022) Spatio-temporal changes in endosymbiont diversity and composition in the African cassava whitefly, Bemisia tabaci SSA1. Frontiers Microbiology, 13:986226. pp. 1-12. ISSN 1664-302X (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.986226)

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Abstract

Sap-sucking insects, including whiteflies, are amongst the most devastating and widely distributed organisms on the planet. They are often highly invasive and endosymbiont communities within these insects help them adapt to new or changing environments. Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) whitefly species are vectors of more than 500 known plant-viruses and harbour highly diverse endosymbionts communities. To date, however, whitefly-endosymbiont interactions, community structure and their spatio-temporal changes are still poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the spatio-temporal changes in the composition and diversity of bacterial endosymbionts in the agricultural crop pest whitefly species, B. tabaci Sub-Saharan Africa 1-sub group 1 (SSA1-SG1). 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing analysis was carried out to characterise endosymbiont compositions in field-collected SSA1 populations infesting cassava in Uganda in 1997 and 2017. We detected Portiera, Arsenophonus, Wolbachia, Hamiltonella and Hemipteriphilus, with Arsenophonus and Wolbachia infections being predominant. Hemipteriphilus and Hamiltonella frequencies were very low and were detected in seven and 2 samples, respectively. Bacterial diversity based on three independent parameters including Simpson index, number of haplotypes and Bray-Curtis Dissimilarity matrix were significantly higher in 1997 than in 2017. This period also coincided with the advent of super-abundant cassava-whitefly populations on cassava crops in Uganda. We discuss how endosymbionts may influence the biology and behaviour of whiteflies leading to population explosions.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Cassava; Illumina Hiseq; temporal change; endosymbionts; whitefly
Subjects: Q Science > QL Zoology
S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Engineering & Science
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute
Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Agriculture, Health & Environment Department
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 22 Sep 2023 08:08
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/37552

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