Obligate Gut Symbiotic Association with Caballeronia in the Mulberry Seed Bug Paradieuches dissimilis (Lygaeoidea: Rhyparochromidae).

Abstract

Many insects possess symbiotic bacteria in their bodies, and microbial symbionts play pivotal metabolic roles for their hosts. Members of the heteropteran superfamilies Coreoidea and Lygaeoidea stinkbugs harbor symbionts of the genus Caballeronia in their intestinal tracts. Compared with symbiotic associations in Coreoidea, those in Lygaeoidea insects are still less understood. Here, we investigated a symbiotic relationship involving the mulberry seed bug Paradieuches dissimilis (Lygaeoidea: Rhyparochromidae) using histological observations, cultivation of the symbiont, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and infection testing of cultured symbionts. Histological observations and cultivation revealed that P. dissimilis harbors Caballeronia symbionts in the crypts of its posterior midgut. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of field-collected P. dissimilis confirmed that the genus Caballeronia is dominant in the midgut of natural populations of P. dissimilis. In addition, PCR diagnostics showed that the eggs were free of symbiotic bacteria, and hatchlings horizontally acquired the symbionts from ambient soil. Infection and rearing experiments revealed that symbiont-free aposymbiotic individuals had abnormal body color, small body size, and, strikingly, a low survival rate, wherein no individuals reached adulthood, indicating an obligate cooperative mutualism between the mulberry seed bug and Caballeronia symbionts.