Capsule-transmitted gut symbiotic bacterium of the Japanese common plataspid stinkbug, Megacopta punctatissima.

ABSTRACT: The Japanese common plataspid stinkbug, Megacopta punctatissima, deposits small brown particles, or symbiont capsules, on the underside of the egg mass for the purpose of transmission of symbiotic bacteria to the offspring. We investigated the microbiological aspects of the bacteria contained in the capsule, such as microbial diversity, phylogenetic placement, localization in vivo, and fitness effects on the host insect. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of 16S ribosomal DNA clones revealed that a single bacterial species dominates the microbiota in the capsule. The bacterium was not detected in the eggs but in the capsules, which unequivocally demonstrated that the bacterium is transmitted to the offspring of the insect orally rather than transovarially, through probing of

SUBMITTER: Fukatsu T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC126591 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature