Genetic variability, community structure, and horizontal transfer of endosymbionts among three Asia II‐Bemisia tabaci mitotypes in Pakistan

Abstract

Endosymbionts associated with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci cryptic species are known to contribute to host fitness and environmental adaptation. The genetic diversity and population complexity were investigated for endosymbiont communities of B. tabaci occupying different micro‐environments in Pakistan. Mitotypes of B. tabaci were identified by comparative sequence analysis of the mitochondria cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene sequence. Whitefly mitotypes belonged to the Asia II‐1, ‐5, and ‐7 mitotypes of the Asia II major clade. The whitefly–endosymbiont communities were characterized based on 16S ribosomal RNA operational taxonomic unit (OTU) assignments, resulting in 43 OTUs. Most of the OTUs occurred in the Asia II‐1 and II‐7 mitotypes (r2 = .9, p < .005), while the Asia II‐5 microbiome was less complex. The microbiome OTU groups were mitotype‐specific, clustering with a basis in phylogeographical distribution and the corresponding ecological niche of their whitefly host, suggesting mitotype‐microbiome co‐adaptation. The primary endosymbiont Portiera was represented by a single, highly homologous OTU (0%–0.67% divergence). Two of six Arsenophonus OTUs were uniquely associated with Asia II‐5 and ‐7, and one occurred exclusively in Asia II‐1, two only in Asia II‐5, and one in both Asia II‐1 and ‐7. Four other secondary endosymbionts, Cardinium, Hemipteriphilus, Rickettsia, and Wolbachia OTUs, were found at ≤29% frequencies. The most prevalent Arsenophonus OTU was found in all three Asia II mitotypes (55% frequency), whereas the same strain of Cardinium and Wolbachia was found in both Asia II‐1 and ‐5, and a single Hemipteriphilus OTU occurred in Asia II‐1 and ‐7. This pattern is indicative of horizontal transfer, suggestive of a proximity between mitotypes sufficient for gene flow at overlapping mitotype ecological niches.

Analyses of symbiotic bacterial communities in the plant pest Bemisia tabaci reveal high prevalence of Candidatus Hemipteriphilus asiaticus on the African continent

“…Hemipteriphilus has been described for the first time in 2013 by Bing et al (20) in B. tabaci samples from China belonging to the China1 biotype. Since, it has also been found in China2, Asia (I and II), Indian Ocean and SSA (SSA6) genetic groups, but only in countries of the Asian continent: Indian and Pakistan (22,38,39). In the present study, Hemipteriphilus was detected in the African continent, with a very high prevalence in the MED and ASL genetic groups from Burkina Faso: 53% in MED-Q3, 77% in MED-Q1, reaching 82% in ASL.…”

The Bacterial Community Diversity of Bathroom Hot Tap Water Was Significantly Lower Than That of Cold Tap and Shower Water

“…The Jaccard index was chosen because it is the most widely used one among all similarity indices (Yue and Clayton, 2005). The Yue and Clayton distance matrix was chosen because of its frequent use in community similarity analysis and capability to distinguish between a population and a sample (Koyano et al, 2014;Ly et al, 2018;Paredes-Montero et al, 2020;Tal et al, 2020;Trudeau et al, 2020). Those two distance matrices were analyzed with a threedimensional Principal coordinates analysis (3D PCoA) and a 3D Non-metric multidimensional scaling (3D NMDS).…”

Whitefly endosymbionts: IPM opportunity or tilting at windmills?

“…The name Candidatus Hemipteriphilus was proposed to reflect the fact that it is found in Hemipteran insects in Asia (Bing et al 2013b ). So far, it has been detected in B. tabaci China 1 species from China, Asia I from India, and Asia II-1 and Asia II-7 species from India and Pakistan (Paredes-Montero et al 2020 ; Kanakala and Ghanim 2019 ; Ansari et al 2017 ; Bing et al 2013b ). It exhibits a bacteriocyte-confined localization in the whitefly body and is maternally inherited through transferred bacteriocyte (Bing et al 2013b ).…”