Intercontinental Diversity of Caballeronia Gut Symbionts in the Conifer Pest Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis

Tsubasa Ohbayashi, Raynald Cossard, Gaëlle Lextrait, Takahiro Hosokawa, Vincent Lesieur, Kazutaka Takeshita, Kanako Tago, Peter Mergaert, Yoshitomo Kikuchi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Many stinkbugs in the superfamily Coreoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) develop crypts in the posterior midgut, harboring Caballeronia (Burkholderia) symbionts. These symbionts form a monophyletic group in Burkholderia sensu lato, called the “stinkbug-associated beneficial and environmental (SBE)” group, recently reclassified as the new genus Caballeronia. SBE symbionts are separated into the subclades SBE-α and SBE-β. Previous studies suggested a regional effect on the symbiont infection pattern; Japanese and American bug species are more likely to be associated with SBE-α, while European bug species are almost exclusively associated with SBE-β. However, since only a few insect species have been investigated, it remains unclear whether region-specific infection is general. We herein investigated Caballeronia gut symbionts in diverse Japanese, European, and North American populations of a cosmopolitan species, the Western conifer seed bug Leptoglossus occidentalis (Coreoidea: Coreidae). A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA gene demonstrated that SBE-β was the most dominant in all populations. Notably, SBE-α was rarely detected in any region, while a third clade, the “Coreoidea clade” occupied one fourth of the tested populations. Although aposymbiotic bugs showed high mortality, SBE-α-and SBE-β-inoculated insects both showed high survival rates; however, a competition assay demonstrated that SBE-β outcompeted SBE-α in the midgut crypts of L. occidentalis. These results strongly suggest that symbiont specificity in the Leptoglossus-Caballeronia symbiotic association is influenced by the host rather than geography, while the geographic distribution of symbionts may be more important in other bugs.

Original languageEnglish
Article numberME22042
JournalMicrobes and environments
Volume37
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Soil Science
  • Plant Science

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