Search results for "aphid"

Wolbachia (alphaproteobacteria: rickettsiales) infections in isolated aphid populations from oceanic islands of the Azores archipelago: revisiting th…

2019

Aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) have provided a suitable model to study endosymbionts, their community, and dynamics since the discovery of the obligate endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola in these organisms. In previous studies, Wolbachia was found in some aphid species. In the present study, we report the prevalence of Wolbachia in aphids sampled from a geographically isolated region (Azores Islands), aiming at a better understanding and characterization of the two newly reported supergroups, M and N. The description of the supergroup M was based on 16S rRNA as well as some protein-coding genes. However, the assignment of the supergroup N was according to 16S rRNA gene sequences of a very few …

Serratia symbiotica from the aphid Cinara cedri: a missing link from facultative to obligate insect endosymbiont.

2011

The genome sequencing of Buchnera aphidicola BCc from the aphid Cinara cedri, which is the smallest known Buchnera genome, revealed that this bacterium had lost its symbiotic role, as it was not able to synthesize tryptophan and riboflavin. Moreover, the biosynthesis of tryptophan is shared with the endosymbiont Serratia symbiotica SCc, which coexists with B. aphidicola in this aphid. The whole-genome sequencing of S. symbiotica SCc reveals an endosymbiont in a stage of genome reduction that is closer to an obligate endosymbiont, such as B. aphidicola from Acyrthosiphon pisum, than to another S. symbiotica, which is a facultative endosymbiont in this aphid, and presents much less gene decay…

Characterisation, analysis of expression and localisation of the opsin gene repertoire from the perspective of photoperiodism in the aphid Acyrthosip…

2017

Organisms exhibit a wide range of seasonal responses as adaptions to predictable annual changes in their environment. These changes are originally caused by the effect of the Earth's cycles around the sun and its axial tilt. Examples of seasonal responses include floration, migration, reproduction and diapause. In temperate climate zones, the most robust variable to predict seasons is the length of the day (i.e. the photoperiod). The first step to trigger photoperiodic driven responses involves measuring the duration of the light-dark phases, but the molecular clockwork performing this task is poorly characterized. Photopigments such as opsins are known to participate in light perception, b…

Combination of molecular data support the existence of three main lineages in the phylogeny of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and the basal position o…

2010

Abstract The first molecular studies on the phylogeny of aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae) bumped into a striking lack of phylogenetic structure for taxa levels higher than tribe, probably as a consequence of the rapid adaptive radiation that this group of insects went through during the Late Cretaceous. Here we present a new attempt to infer the relationships between major aphid taxa by the separate and combined analysis of two nuclear sequences (the long-wavelength opsin gene and the elongation factor 1α gene) and two mitochondrial sequences (the genes encoding the subunit 6 of the F-ATPase and the subunit II of the cytochrome oxidase). Our results confirm previous results with the grouping o…

Evolution of the leucine gene cluster in Buchnera aphidicola: insights from chromosomal versions of the cluster.

2004

ABSTRACT In Buchnera aphidicola strains associated with the aphid subfamilies Thelaxinae, Lachninae, Pterocommatinae, and Aphidinae, the four leucine genes ( leuA , - B , - C , and - D ) are located on a plasmid. However, these genes are located on the main chromosome in B. aphidicola strains associated with the subfamilies Pemphiginae and Chaitophorinae. The sequence of the chromosomal fragment containing the leucine cluster and flanking genes has different positions in the chromosome in B. aphidicola strains associated with three tribes of the subfamily Pemphiginae and one tribe of the subfamily Chaitophorinae. Due to the extreme gene order conservation of the B. aphidicola genomes, the v…

Incidence and epidemiology of Citrus tristeza virus in the Valencian Community of Spain

2000

Abstract The first outbreak of citrus tristeza disease in Spain caused by Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) was recorded in 1957 in the Valencian Community (VC). In total c. 40 million trees, mainly of sweet orange and mandarin grafted on sour orange rootstocks, declined due to CTV. Large-scale surveys in different municipalities of the VC indicated that the disease spread very fast. Incidence increased from 11% in 1989 to 53% in 1998. Toxoptera aurantii and Aphis spiraecola (inefficient aphid vectors of CTV) predominated before 1985–87. Since then the relatively efficient vector Aphis gossypii has become dominant and induced an epidemic that has been modelled. The large number of A.gossypii that…

Natural reduction of willow carrot aphids by Coccinellidae on a carrot crop

1993

Chromosomal stasis versus plasmid plasticity in aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola.

2005

The study of three genomes of the aphid endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola has revealed an extraordinary stasis: conservation of gene order and genetic composition of the chromosome, while the chromosome size and number of genes has reduced. The reduction in genome size appears to be ongoing since some lineages we now know to have even smaller chromosomes than the first B. aphidicola analysed. The current sequencing by our group of one of these smaller genomes with an estimated size of 450 kb, and its comparison with the other three available genomes provide insights into the nature of processes involved in shrinkage. We discuss whether B. aphidicola might be driven to extinction and be repla…

A new Aphid genus and species (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Macrosiphini) living on ferns in Costa Rica and Mexico

2013

AbstractAphid species colonising ferns belong to the subfamily Aphidinae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and the majority of these to the tribe Macrosiphini. A new genus in this tribe and its type species: Gibbomyzus pteridophytorumnew genus, new species, are established. Apterous and alate viviparous females are described from specimens collected on Blechnum buchtienii Rosenstock (Blechnaceae) in Costa Rica and on Pteridium aquilinum (Linnaeus) Kuhn (Dennstaedtiaceae) and an unidentified fern in Mexico. The taxonomic validity of the two new taxa is discussed based on morphological and molecular data. Morphologically, the new genus is compared with genera with swollen siphunculi recorded in the New …

Inferring phytoplankton community composition with a fatty acid mixing model

2015

The taxon specificity of fatty acid composition in algal classes suggests that fatty acids could be used as chemotaxonomic markers for phytoplankton composition. The applicability of phospholipid-derived fatty acids as chemotaxonomic markers for phytoplankton composition was evaluated by using a Bayesian fatty acid-based mixing model. Fatty acid profiles from monocultures of chlorophytes, cyanobacteria, diatoms, euglenoids, dinoflagellates, raphidophyte, cryptophytes and chrysophytes were used as a reference library to infer phytoplankton community composition in five moderately humic, large boreal lakes in three different seasons (spring, summer and fall). The phytoplankton community compo…