Bacterial Competition Influences the Ability of Symbiotic Bacteria to Colonize Western Flower Thrips.

ABSTRACT: Symbiont mediated RNAi (SMR) is a promising method for precision control of pest insect species such as Western Flower Thrips (WFT). Two species of bacteria are known to be dominant symbiotic bacteria in WFT, namely BFo1 and BFo2 (Bacteria from Frankliniella occidentalis 1 and 2), as we here confirm by analysis of next-generation sequence data derived to obtain a reference WFT genome sequence. Our first demonstration of SMR in WFT used BFo2, related to Pantoea, isolated from a domesticated Dutch thrips population. However, for successful use of SMR as a thrips control measure, these bacteria need to successfully colonize different environmental thrips populations. Here, we describe a United Kingdom thrips population that does not harbour BFo2, but does contain BFo1, a species

SUBMITTER: Andongma AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9301076 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature