Bacterial Communities in Bacteriomes, Ovaries and Testes of three Geographical Populations of a Sap-Feeding Insect, Platypleura kaempferi (Hemiptera: Cicadidae).

Abstract

Mutualistic associations between symbiotic bacteria and their insect hosts are widespread. The bacterial diversity and community composition within hosts may play an important role in shaping insect biology, ecology, and evolution. Here, we focused on the bacterial communities in bacteriomes, ovaries and testes of three representative populations of the cicada Platypleura kaempferi (Fabricius) using high-throughput 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing approach combined with light microscopy and confocal imaging approach. The obligate symbiont Sulcia was detected in all the examined samples, which showed a relatively high abundance in most bacteriomes and ovaries. The unclassified OTUs formerly identified as an unclassified Rhizobiales bacterium was demonstrated to be the co-obligate symbiont Hodgkinia, which showed 100% infection rate in all the examined samples and had an especially high abundance in most bacteriomes and ovaries. Hodgkinia and Sulcia occupy the central and peripheral bacteriocytes of each bacteriome unit, respectively. Cluster analysis revealed that the bacterial communities in bacteriomes, ovaries and testes of Zhouzhi and Ningshan populations separated strongly from each other. Significant difference was also detected between the Yangling and Ningshan populations, but no significant difference was detected between the Yangling and Zhouzhi populations. This may be related to the difference of host plants and genetic differentiation of these populations. Our findings show that the bacterial communities can be influenced by the population differentiation of the host cicadas and/or the host plants of cicadas, which improve our understanding of the associations between the bacterial community and population differentiation of sap-feeding insects.