Bacterial community associated with the ambrosia beetle <i>Platypus cylindrus</i> on declining <i>Quercus suber</i> trees in the Alentejo region of Portugal

Nones, Stefano; Fernandes, Clovis Torres; Duarte, Lídia; Cruz, Leonor; Sousa, Edmundo

doi:10.1111/ppa.13536

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…21 The overall number of core bacteria was surprisingly small and common taxa belonged to the Actinobacteria, the Alphaproteobacteria and the Gammaproteobacteria, with Pseudoxanthomonas, Acinetobacter, Erwinia, Ochrobactrum, Microbacterium and Wolbachia being the most abundant phylotypes. This result closely resembles communities found by other studies for X. saxesenii and other ambrosia beetles (38,73,75). One of the most abundant genera in our samples was Pseudoxanthomonas.…”

Section: The Bacterial Community and Potential Functionssupporting

confidence: 91%

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First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

Diehl

Kowallik

Keller

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Fungal cultivation is a defining feature for advanced agriculture in attine ants and fungus-farming termites. In a third supposedly fungus-farming group, wood-colonizing ambrosia beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae and Platypodinae), an experimental proof for the effectiveness of beetle activity for selective promotion of their food fungi over others is lacking and farming has only been assumed based on observations of social and hygienic behaviors. Here, we experimentally removed mothers and their offspring from young nests of the fruit-tree pinhole borer, Xyleborinus saxesenii (Scolytinae). By amplicon sequencing of bacterial and fungal communities of nests with and without beetles we could show that beetles are indeed able to actively shift symbiont communities. Although being consumed, the Raffaelea food fungi were more abundant when beetles were present while a weed fungus (Chaetomium sp.) as well as overall bacterial diversity were reduced in comparison to nests without beetles. Core symbiont communities were generally low diverse and there were strong signs for vertical transmission not only for the cultivars, but also for secondary symbionts. Our findings verify the existence of active farming, even though the exact mechanisms underlying the selective promotion and/or suppression of symbionts need further investigation.

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Section: The Bacterial Community and Potential Functionssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In ambrosia beetles, so far, most descriptive and experimental studies focused on the fungal symbionts (but see (38,(73)(74)(75)). However, given that ambrosia beetle communities resemble those of fungus-farming ants and termites (73), where bacteria are known to play essential roles (e.g.…”

Section: The Bacterial Community and Potential Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

Diehl

Kowallik

Keller

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The overall number of core bacteria was surprisingly small and common taxa belonged to the Actinobacteria, the Alphaproteobacteria and the Gammaproteobacteria, with Pseudoxanthomonas, Acinetobacter, Erwinia, Ochrobactrum, Microbacterium and Wolbachia being the most abundant phylotypes. This result closely resembles communities found by other studies for X. saxesenii and other ambrosia beetles [32,66,68]. One of the most abundant genera in our samples was Pseudoxanthomonas.…”

Section: (D) the Bacterial Community And Potential Functionssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…In ambrosia beetles, so far, most descriptive and experimental studies focused on the fungal symbionts (but see [32,[66][67][68]). However, given that ambrosia beetle communities resemble those of fungus-farming ants and termites [66], where bacteria are known to play essential roles (e.g.…”

Section: (D) the Bacterial Community And Potential Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fungal cultivation is a defining feature for advanced agriculture in fungus-farming ants and termites. In a third supposedly fungus-farming group, wood-colonizing ambrosia beetles, an experimental proof for the effectiveness of beetle activity for selective promotion of their food fungi over others is lacking and farming has only been assumed based on observations of social and hygienic behaviours. Here, we experimentally removed mothers and their offspring from young nests of the fruit-tree pinhole borer, Xyleborinus saxesenii . By amplicon sequencing of bacterial and fungal communities of nests with and without beetles we could show that beetles are indeed able to actively shift symbiont communities. Although being consumed, the Raffaelea food fungi were more abundant when beetles were present while a weed fungus ( Chaetomium sp.) as well as overall bacterial diversity were reduced in comparison to nests without beetles. Core symbiont communities were generally of low diversity and there were strong signs for vertical transmission not only for the cultivars, but also for secondary symbionts. Our findings verify the existence of active farming, even though the exact mechanisms underlying the selective promotion and/or suppression of symbionts need further investigation.

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“…Although the functional role of bacteria in ambrosia beetle communities has not been experimentally determined, similar bacterial groups dominate in all fungus-farming insect groups ( Aylward et al, 2014 ). In ambrosia beetles bacterial taxa mainly belong to the classes of Alpha- (e.g., Ochrobactrum, Phyllobacterium, Sphingomonas ), Beta- (e.g., Burkholderia ) and Gammaproteobacteria (e.g., Pseudomonas, Pseudoxanthomonas, Erwinia, Stenotrophomonas, Pantoea ), Sphingobacteria (e.g., Pedobacter, Olivibacter, Sphingobacterium ), Actinobacteria (e.g., Streptomyces, Microbacterium ), Flavobacteria (e.g., Chryseobacterium ), Bacilli (e.g., Staphylococcus, Bacillus ), and Chitinophagia (e.g., Niabella ) ( Fabig, 2011 ; Aylward et al, 2014 ; Ibarra-Juarez et al, 2020 ; Nuotclà et al, 2021 ; Nones et al, 2022 ). In X. affinis , cellular pathway analyses suggest that its bacterial symbionts contribute in wood degradation, nitrogen fixation and nutritional provisioning ( Ibarra-Juarez et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the succession of microbial communities throughout development in field and laboratory nests of the ambrosia beetle Xyleborinus saxesenii

2023

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Some fungus-farming ambrosia beetles rely on multiple nutritional cultivars (Ascomycota: Ophiostomatales and/or yeasts) that seem to change in relative abundance over time. The succession of these fungi could benefit beetle hosts by optimal consumption of the substrate and extended longevity of the nest. However, abundances of fungal cultivars and other symbionts are poorly known and their culture-independent quantification over development has been studied in only a single species. Here, for the first time, we compared the diversity and succession of both fungal and bacterial communities of fungus gardens in the fruit-tree pinhole borer, Xyleborinus saxesenii, from field and laboratory nests over time. By amplicon sequencing of probed fungus gardens of both nest types at three development phases we showed an extreme reduction of diversity in both bacterial and fungal symbionts in laboratory nests. Furthermore, we observed a general transition from nutritional to non-beneficial fungal symbionts during beetle development. While one known nutritional mutualist, Raffaelea canadensis, was occurring more or less stable over time, the second mutualist R. sulphurea was dominating young nests and decreased in abundance at the expense of other secondary fungi. The quicker the succession proceeded, the slower offspring beetles developed, suggesting a negative role of these secondary symbionts. Finally, we found signs of transgenerational costs of late dispersal for daughters, possibly as early dispersers transmitted and started their own nests with less of the non-beneficial taxa. Future studies should focus on the functional roles of the few bacterial taxa that were present in both field and laboratory nests.

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Bacterial community associated with the ambrosia beetle Platypus cylindrus on declining Quercus suber trees in the Alentejo region of Portugal

Cited by 8 publications

References 37 publications

First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

First experimental evidence for active farming in ambrosia beetles and strong heredity of garden microbiomes

Comparing the succession of microbial communities throughout development in field and laboratory nests of the ambrosia beetle Xyleborinus saxesenii

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