Host relatedness influences the composition of aphid microbiomes

Abstract

SummaryAnimals are host to a community of microbes, collectively referred to as their microbiome, that can play a key role in their hosts' biology. The bacterial endosymbionts of insects have a particularly strong influence on their hosts, but despite their importance we still know little about the factors that influence the composition of insect microbial communities. Here, we ask: what is the relative importance of host relatedness and host ecology in structuring symbiont communities of diverse aphid species? We used next‐generation sequencing to compare the microbiomes of 46 aphid species with known host plant affiliations. We find that relatedness between aphid species is the key factor explaining the microbiome composition, with more closely related aphid species housing more similar bacterial communities. Endosymbionts dominate the microbial communities, and we find a novel bacterium in the genus Sphingopyxis that is associated with numerous aphid species feeding exclusively on trees. The influence of ecology was less pronounced than that of host relatedness. Our results suggest that co‐adaptation between insect species and their facultative symbionts is a more important determinant of symbiont species presence in aphids than shared ecology of hosts.

Microbiota associated with Mollitrichosiphum aphids (Hemiptera: Aphididae: Greenideinae): diversity, host species specificity and phylosymbiosis

“…Such microbiota signature in Mollitrichosiphum is in line with previous study of McLean et al . (2019), and the pattern of phylosymbiosis has been reported in some insect, bird, fish and mammal groups (Sanders et al ., 2014; Brooks et al ., 2016; Groussin et al ., 2017; Chiarello et al ., 2018; Nishida and Ochman, 2018; Laviad‐Shitrit et al ., 2019). Two alternative scenarios may account for this phylogenetic correlation: host‐microbe codiversification or ecological filtering by phylogenetically correlated factors (Sanders et al ., 2014; Moran and Sloan, 2015; Lim and Bordenstein, 2020).…”

Host Plants Influence the Symbiont Diversity of Eriosomatinae (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

“…In addition, the study suggested that both geographic distribution and host plant influenced the structure and composition of the bacterial community of pea aphid [54]. Studies based on comprehensive sampling within family Aphididae revealed correlations between aphid symbiont, ant attending and host plant [61] and aphid relatedness [62].…”

“…Henry et al [61] investigated the bacterial communities of 133 aphid species and highlighted the important roles of ecological conditions in structuring the symbiont distributions, whereas aphid phylogeny seemed to have no effect. McLean et al [62] surveyed the microbiota of 46 aphid species and found that the microbiota composition was influenced by aphid relatedness rather than aphid ecology.…”

Host Species Determines the Composition of the Prokaryotic Microbiota in Phlebotomus Sandflies

“…Most previous microbiota studies on Phlebotomus have used culture-dependent approaches [ 28 , 29 , 39 , 40 ], with their well-documented limitations [ 41 ], and did not explore the factors shaping the gut microbial community of wild populations of Phlebotomus sandflies. Previous studies have highlighted, among other factors, the role of host phylogeny on the composition of insect gut microbial community [ 24 , 42 , 43 ]. In this context, we explored the role of host species on the diversity of the gut microbiota of a wild population of Phlebotomus sandflies.…”