Molecular and histological characterization of primary (betaproteobacteria) and secondary (gammaproteobacteria) endosymbionts of three mealybug species.

ABSTRACT: Microscopic localization of endosymbiotic bacteria in three species of mealybug (Pseudococcus longispinus, the long-tailed mealybug; Pseudococcus calceolariae, the citrophilus mealybug; and Pseudococcus viburni, the obscure mealybug) showed these organisms were confined to bacteriocyte cells within a bacteriome centrally located within the hemocoel. Two species of bacteria were present, with the secondary endosymbiont, in all cases, living within the primary endosymbiont. DNA from the dissected bacteriomes of all three species of mealybug was extracted for analysis. Sequence data from selected 16S rRNA genes confirmed identification of the primary endosymbiont as "Candidatus Tremblaya princeps," a betaproteobacterium, and the secondary endosymbionts as gammaproteobacteria closely related t

SUBMITTER: Gatehouse LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3273002 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature