Affiliation:
1. School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
Abstract
Facultative symbionts are common in insects and can provide their hosts with significant adaptations. Yet we still have a limited understanding of what shapes their distributions, such as why particular symbiont strains are common in some host species yet absent in others. To address this question, we genotyped the defensive symbiont
Hamiltonella defensa
in 26 aphid species that commonly carry this microbe. We found that
Hamiltonella
strains were strongly associated with specific aphid species and that strains found in one host species rarely occurred in others. To explain these associations, we reciprocally transferred the
Hamiltonella
strains of three aphid species,
Acyrthosiphon pisum
,
Macrosiphoniella artemisiae
and
Macrosiphum euphorbiae
, and assessed the impact of
Hamiltonella
strain on: the stability of the symbiosis, aphid fecundity and parasitoid resistance. We demonstrate that the
Hamiltonella
strains found in nature are locally adapted to specific aphid hosts, and their ecology: aphids tend to carry
Hamiltonella
strains that are efficiently transmitted to their offspring, non-lethal, and that provide strong protection against their dominant parasitoid species. Our results suggest that facultative symbiont distributions are shaped by selection from natural enemies, and the host itself, resulting in locally adapted symbioses that provide significant benefits against prevailing natural enemies.
Funder
Leverhulme Trust
Natural Environment Research Council
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Environmental Science,General Immunology and Microbiology,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology,General Medicine
Cited by
8 articles.
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