Abstract
Myzus persicae (Sulzer) is an important insect pest in agriculture that has a very broad host range. Previous research has shown that the microbiota of insects has implications for their growth, development, and environmental adaptation. So far, there is little detailed knowledge about the factors that influence and shape the microbiota of aphids. In the present study, we aimed to investigate diet-induced changes in the microbiome of M. persicae using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA gene fragments in combination with molecular and microbiological experiments. The transfer of aphids to different plants from the Solanaceae family resulted in a substantial decrease in the abundance of the primary symbiont Buchnera. In parallel, a substantial increase in the abundance of Pseudomonas was observed; it accounted for up to 69.4% of the bacterial community in M. persicae guts and the attached bacteriocytes. In addition, we observed negative effects on aphid population dynamics when they were transferred to pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.). The microbiome of this treatment group showed a significantly lower increase in the abundance of Pseudomonas when compared with the other Solanaceae plant diets, which might be related to the adaptability of the host to this diet. Molecular quantifications of bacterial genera that were substantially affected by the different diets were implemented as an additional verification of the microbiome-based observations. Complementary experiments with bacteria isolated from aphids that were fed with different plants indicated that nicotine-tolerant strains occur in Solanaceae-fed specimens, but they were not restricted to them. Overall, our mechanistic approach conducted under controlled conditions provided strong indications that the aphid microbiome shows responses to different plant diets. This knowledge could be used in the future to develop environmentally friendly methods for the control of insect pests in agriculture.
Highlights
Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the environment and often associated with eukaryotic hosts
When the plants reached stable growth, adult M. persicae aphids reared on cabbage were transferred together with cabbage leaves cut from the plants into the mesh cages with the Solanaceae plants to allow a natural transition; the cabbage leaves were subsequently removed from the containers
By assessing the changes in the bacterial community of M. persicae fed with three Solanaceae plants and cabbage as a reference treatment, we could mechanistically confirm that the microbiome of aphids is influenced by the plant diet
Summary
Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the environment and often associated with eukaryotic hosts. It has been shown that microorganisms in plants and animals often fulfill important functions (Van der Ent et al, 2009; Fuchs, 2010). Symbionts are found ubiquitously in insects among a variety of other microbes with as yet unknown functions They can play various beneficial roles, such as promotion of growth and defense against natural enemies (Lee et al, 2017; Oliver and Perlman, 2020). They support the adaptability of insects to adverse environmental conditions (Dunbar et al, 2007)
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