Heat Stress Affects Facultative Symbiont-Mediated Protection from a Parasitoid Wasp.

ABSTRACT: Many insects carry facultative bacterial symbionts, which provide benefits including resistance to natural enemies and abiotic stresses. Little is known about how these beneficial phenotypes are affected when biotic or abiotic threats occur simultaneously. The pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) can host several well-characterized symbiont species. The symbiont known as X-type can protect against both parasitoid wasps and heat stress. Here, we used three pea aphid genotypes that were naturally infected with X-type and the symbiont Spiroplasma sp. We compared aphids coinfected with these two symbionts with those cured from X-type and infected with only Spiroplasma to investigate the ability of X-type to confer benefits to the host when two threats are experienced simultaneously. Our aim is to e

SUBMITTER: Heyworth ER 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5119854 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature