Culturing and Characterization of Gut Symbiont Burkholderia spp. from the Southern Chinch Bug, Blissus insularis (Hemiptera: Blissidae).

ABSTRACT:

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The phloem-feeding Southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis, harbors a high density of the exocellular bacterial symbiont Burkholderia in the lumen of specialized midgut crypts. Here we developed an organ culture method that initially involved incubating the B. insularis crypts in osmotically balanced insect cell culture medium. This approach enabled the crypt-inhabiting Burkholderia spp. to make a transition to an in vitro environment and to be subsequently cultured in standard bacteriological media. Examinations using ribotyping and BOX-PCR fingerprinting techniques demonstrated that most in vitro-produced bacterial cultures were identical to their crypt-inhabiting Burkholderia counterparts. Genomic and physiological analyses of gut-symbiotic Burkholderia spp. that were

SUBMITTER: Xu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4959241 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature