Hemiptera: Adelgidae)
The ISME Journal (2012) 6, 384–396 & 2012 International Society for Microbial Ecology All rights reserved 1751-7362/12 www.nature.com/ismej ORIGINAL ARTICLE Bacteriocyte-associated gammaproteobacterial symbionts of the Adelges nordmannianae/piceae complex (Hemiptera: Adelgidae) Elena R Toenshoff1, Thomas Penz1, Thomas Narzt2, Astrid Collingro1, Stephan Schmitz-Esser1,3, Stefan Pfeiffer1, Waltraud Klepal2, Michael Wagner1, Thomas Weinmaier4, Thomas Rattei4 and Matthias Horn1 1Department of Microbial Ecology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 2Core Facility, Cell Imaging and Ultrastructure Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; 3Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Science, Institute for Milk Hygiene, Milk Technology and Food Science, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria and 4Department of Computational Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria Adelgids (Insecta: Hemiptera: Adelgidae) are known as severe pests of various conifers in North America, Canada, Europe and Asia. Here, we present the first molecular identification of bacteriocyte-associated symbionts in these plant sap-sucking insects. Three geographically distant populations of members of the Adelges nordmannianae/piceae complex, identified based on coI and ef1alpha gene sequences, were investigated. Electron and light microscopy revealed two morphologically different endosymbionts, coccoid or polymorphic, which are located in distinct bacteriocytes. Phylogenetic analyses of their 16S and 23S rRNA gene sequences assigned both symbionts to novel lineages within the Gammaproteobacteria sharing o92% 16S rRNA sequence similarity with each other and showing no close relationship with known symbionts of insects. Their identity and intracellular location were confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization, and the names ‘Candidatus Steffania adelgidicola’ and ‘Candidatus Ecksteinia adelgidicola’ are proposed for tentative classification.
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