Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Xiaofei Zhou, Xiaoyu Ling, Huijuan Guo, Keyan Zhu-Salzman, Feng Ge, Yucheng Sun
Summary: Studies show that Serratia-infected aphids have shorter developmental time and higher body weight when fed on detached leaves. Up-regulation of genes related to fatty acid biosynthesis and elongation in infected aphids leads to accumulation of specific fatty acids, impacting development and weight gain. Inhibiting fatty acid synthesis in infected aphids prolongs growth period and reduces body weight, while supplementation of specific fatty acids restores normal development.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Microbiology
Zhi-Wei Kang, Meng Zhang, He-He Cao, Shan-Shan Guo, Fang-Hua Liu, Tong-Xian Liu
Summary: This study reveals that winged nymphs of the pea aphid can undergo apterization to become wingless morphs in response to changes from stressful to favorable conditions. The wingless morphs have higher fecundity than winged morphs. However, this regression process is inhibited by Serratia symbiotica.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Mauricio Gonzalez Gonzalez, Jean Christophe Simon, Akiko Sugio, Arnaud Ameline, Anas Cherqui
Summary: This study evaluated the resistance of Pisum fulvum and five Pisum sativum genotypes to two biotypes of Acyrthosiphon pisum through measuring aphid body mass and analyzing aphid feeding behavior. The results showed variable resistance levels among the genotypes, with the resistance of Pisum genotypes to non-adapted A. pisum residing in mesophyll and phloem tissues, while the resistance variation of P. sativum to pea adapted aphids may be influenced by the quality of phloem sap.
Article
Microbiology
Julie Perreau, Devki J. Patel, Hanna Anderson, Gerald P. Maeda, Katherine M. Elston, Jeffrey E. Barrick, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: Culturable strains of Serratia symbiotica, originally characterized as noncultured mutualistic symbionts of aphids, have been found to also have pathogenic properties in aphid hosts and can be maternally transmitted. This suggests a potential for these strains to evolve into beneficial symbionts in aphid hosts.
Article
Biology
Yang Li, Shin-ichi Akimoto
Summary: The study shows that there is positive competition effect between different color clones of aphids in the colonies, with mixed colonies growing faster than clonal colonies. Yellow aphids outnumber green aphids when reproducing earlier, but green aphids overwhelm yellow aphids when reproduction starts simultaneously.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Physiology
Chunchun Li, Qian Sun, Yuping Gou, Kexin Zhang, Qiangyan Zhang, Jing-Jiang Zhou, Changzhong Liu
Summary: The study shows that elevated atmospheric CO2 levels have negative impacts on the development and nutrition status of the green pea aphid, including prolonging nymph duration, decreasing adult longevity and female fecundity, and increasing metabolic contents. Additionally, there is an interaction between CO2 levels and generational effects, leading to further implications for aphid development and reproduction over multiple generations.
FRONTIERS IN PHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Plant Sciences
Hui-ping Liu, Qiao-yan Yang, Jing-xing Liu, Inzamam Ul Haq, Yan Li, Qiang-yan Zhang, Kotb A. Attia, Asmaa M. Abushady, Chang-zhong Liu, Ning Lv
Summary: This study investigated the effects of different host plants on the biological characteristics, Buchnera titer, and nutritional metabolism of pea aphids. The titer of Buchnera was significantly higher on T. Pretense and M. officinalis. The content of soluble sugar, glycogen, and total energy of the pea aphid on V. faba were significantly higher and showed high fecundity and weight. The content of total lipids was higher on P. sativum and T. pretense. Correlation analysis found that the difference in Buchnera titer was positively correlated with the protein content in M. officinalis and the content of total energy in T. pratense. This study confirmed that host plants not only affected the biological characteristics and nutritional metabolism of pea aphids but also regulated the symbiotic density, thus interfering with the nutritional function of Buchnera. The results can provide a theoretical basis for further studies on the influence of different host plants on the development of pea aphids and other insects.
FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Lei Liu, Bo Hong, Jiang -wen Wei, Yi-Ting Wu, Li-Wen Song, Sen-Shan Wang
Summary: The role of ABC transporter genes in tannic acid metabolism by pea aphid is investigated in this study. It is found that verapamil, an ABC transporter inhibitor, increases the mortality of tannic acid to pea aphid. A total of 54 putative ABC transporter genes are identified from the genome database of A. pisum. The study also reveals that ApABCG17 may be involved in the metabolism of tannic acid in pea aphid.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Francois Renoz, Melanie Ribeiro Lopes, Karen Gaget, Gabrielle Duport, Marie-Christine Eloy, Benoit Geelhand de Merxem, Thierry Hance, Federica Calevro
Summary: Dependence on multiple nutritional symbionts has evolved many times in insects. This study reveals a unique case of a symbiont that exhibits both intracellular and extracellular lifestyles in an aphid. This discovery reveals a new aspect of multipartner nutritional symbiosis in insects.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Yaling Ma, Chunjie Li, James F. White
Summary: The study focused on the contact toxicity of aqueous extracts of endophyte-infected and endophyte-free plants of Achnatherum inebrians on pea aphids, showing that compounds in endophyte-containing plants may be used to control insects. Different growth periods of endophyte-infected plants had varying effects on pea aphid survival and growth, with extracts from plants at the seeding stage showing the greatest negative impact on aphids.
Article
Ecology
Corentin Sochard, Corentin Dupont, Jean-Christophe Simon, Yannick Outreman
Summary: Ecological specialization is common in animals, especially phytophagous insects, resulting from divergent selection on insect populations. Symbionts may influence insect foraging capacities, with potential consequences on dispersal and survival. However, the main influence of secondary symbionts is on the production of winged offspring rather than short-distance exploration and host plant selection.
Article
Entomology
Katarzyna Stec, Bozena Kordan, Beata Gabrys
Summary: Flavonoids have different effects on the feeding behavior of pea aphids, with apigenin, daidzein, and kaempferol reducing sap ingestion intensity, while genistein has no impact. These findings provide valuable insights for breeding aphid-resistant plant cultivars in a sustainable manner.
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Huang Tian-yu, Zhang Rui-bin, Yang Lu-lu, Cao Song, Frederic Francis, Wang Bing, Wang Gui-rong
Summary: The study reveals the important role of the conserved Or23 clade in host plant detection in most aphid species, and shows that pea aphids mainly rely on their odorant receptors to discriminate among different leguminous plant hosts.
JOURNAL OF INTEGRATIVE AGRICULTURE
(2022)
Article
Entomology
Chen Luo, Maya Belghazi, Antonin Schmitz, Severine Lemauf, Nicolas Desneux, Jean-Christophe Simon, Marylene Poirie, Jean-Luc Gatti
Summary: This study reveals that facultative symbionts in the pea aphid can influence the activity of phenoloxidase, an important component of insect innate immunity. Different species of FS show variations in regulating PO activity, with some FS being able to interfere with transcription and translation processes, leading to a decrease in PO activity in the aphid.
Article
Agronomy
Shengwei Ye, Long Zhao, Yinyin Qi, Han Yang, Zilong Hu, Nan Hao, Yantao Li, Xiangrong Tian
Summary: This study identified azukisapogenol triterpenoid saponins from Oxytropis hirta as effective biopesticides for controlling aphids. These compounds exhibited significant aphicidal activities, including oral toxicity, deterrent effects, and aphid reproduction inhibition.
PEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Genetics & Heredity
Julie Perreau, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: The evolutionary persistence of animal symbioses relies on innovations from both hosts and symbionts, reflected in genetic changes. Through genome sequencing and experiments, we can understand how innovations arise under different symbiont population structures and how these innovations function to support symbiotic relationships.
NATURE REVIEWS GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mark Blaxter, John M. Archibald, Anna K. Childers, Jonathan A. Coddington, Keith A. Crandall, Federica Di Palma, Richard Durbin, Scott V. Edwards, Jennifer A. M. Graves, Kevin J. Hackett, Neil Hall, Erich D. Jarvis, Rebecca N. Johnson, Elinor K. Karlsson, W. John Kress, Shigehiro Kuraku, Mara K. N. Lawniczak, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Jose V. Lopez, Nancy A. Moran, Gene E. Robinson, Oliver A. Ryder, Beth Shapiro, Pamela S. Soltis, Tandy Warnow, Guojie Zhang, Harris A. Lewin
Summary: Life on Earth has evolved from simplicity to complexity, with bacteria and archaea excelling in metabolic diversification and eukaryotes displaying morphological innovation. The Earth BioGenome Project proposes sequencing the genomes of all known eukaryotic species to create a digital library of life, which will help address evolutionary and ecological questions and provide insights into speciation, adaptation, and organismal dependencies within ecosystems.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Biology
Erick V. S. Motta, J. Elijah Powell, Sean P. Leonard, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: Social corbiculate bees have characteristic bacterial microbiomes associated with their hives and guts. Administering probiotic bacterial strains may improve the health of individual bees and their hives, but evidence for probiotic benefits is lacking or mixed. Using probiotics with native bee gut bacteria could be a promising approach for protecting the health of managed bee colonies.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yiyuan Li, Sean P. Leonard, J. Elijah Powell, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: By studying the gut microbiomes of honey bees and bumble bees, it was found that the gut-associated bacteria, Gilliamella and Snodgrassella, have diversified into discrete populations over 80 million years, with limited gene flow. These bacteria have adapted to specific hosts and ecological niches through acquiring genes, leading to barriers to gene flow within different host species and within individual hosts.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Thomas Smith, Yiyuan Li, Julie Perreau, Nancy Moran, Diarmaid Hughes
Summary: Pea aphids contain genes of bacterial origin with putative functions in peptidoglycan metabolism. Some of these genes are highly expressed in specialized aphid cells that harbor the obligate bacterial symbiont Buchnera aphidicola, required for amino acid supplementation. While pea aphid retains genes for the synthesis of peptidoglycan, other aphid species lack these genes. Through genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses, this study explores the evolution of horizontally-transferred genes in aphids and their contribution to peptidoglycan production. The results suggest a functional linkage between certain host and symbiont genes, and highlight the importance of compensatory adaptations in preserving peptidoglycan synthesis.
Article
Microbiology
Taylor J. Busby, Craig R. Miller, Nancy A. Moran, James T. Van Leuven
Summary: Microbial communities in animal digestive systems play crucial roles in host development and health. However, little is known about the temporal and spatial dynamics of bacteriophage communities in animal digestive systems. This study focuses on bacteriophages in the gut of honey bees and reveals their conservation and specialization in different geographic locations.
Article
Microbiology
Atsushi Nakabachi, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: Polyploidy is a common phenomenon in different domains of life, referring to the state of having multiple copies of the genome within a nucleus or a cell. This study analyzed the ploidy of Candidatus Carsonella ruddii, a symbiotic bacterium found in the hackberry petiole gall psyllid. The results showed that Carsonella cells can contain thousands or even tens of thousands of genomic copies per cell, suggesting a potential role in DNA damage repair.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Jo-Anne C. Holley, Mary N. Jackson, Anna T. Pham, Sarah C. Hatcher, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: This study found that the gut microbiomes of carpenter bees have distinctive and consistent compositions, dominated by bacterial lineages previously known from honey bees and bumble bees. Thus, eusociality is not required for bees to maintain a specialized, host-restricted gut microbiome. These findings suggest that gut bacteria are transmitted at shared nesting sites and play a role in host ecology.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tobin J. Hammer, August Easton-Calabria, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: The changes in a host's microbiome over its lifespan can affect its development and aging. In this study, the temporal dynamics and stability of the bumble bee worker gut microbiome were characterized. It was found that microbiome assembly is highly predictable at the community level, similar to patterns observed in the human gut. However, at the strain level, there were stochastic colonization events. Differences in temporal dynamics among symbiont species were also observed. The gut microbiome and host transcriptome were found to stabilize, rather than senesce, with age. These findings provide a foundation for further exploring the mechanisms and functional outcomes of bee microbiome succession.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
J. Elijah Powell, Pierre Lau, Juliana Rangel, Ryan Arnott, Tyler De Jong, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: Pollen is the primary dietary protein source for honey bees but the complex polysaccharides in its outer coat cannot be digested by bees. Instead, they can be metabolized by gut bacteria. A diet without pollen significantly affects the gut microbiota and gene expression of honey bees, highlighting the importance of natural pollen as a main protein source.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Qiang Huang, Patrick J. Lariviere, J. Elijah Powell, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: In this study, researchers engineered a honey bee gut symbiont to express double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) targeting essential genes of the parasite Nosema ceranae. This led to a reduction in parasite proliferation and improved bee survival. The engineered symbionts were also transmitted among cohoused bees, suggesting a potential colony-level protection strategy.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Erick V. S. Motta, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: This study investigated the effects of herbicide on the gut microbiota and survival rates of the eastern bumble bee. The results showed that herbicide exposure had a temporary impact on the gut microbiota but did not cause long-lasting damage. It also suggested a potential negative effect on the survival rates of bumble bees at high concentrations.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Erick V. S. Motta, Ryan L. W. Arnott, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: Caffeine plays a significant role in protecting the gut microbiota of honey bees and enhancing their resistance against bacterial infection.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Katherine M. Elston, Laila E. Phillips, Sean P. Leonard, Eleanor Young, Jo-anne C. Holley, Tasneem Ahsanullah, Braydin McReynolds, Nancy A. Moran, Jeffrey E. Barrick
Summary: The Pathfinder toolkit is designed to determine the compatibility of a bacterium with different plasmid components, allowing rapid screening through multiplex conjugation. It also provides foundational genetic tools for studying microbial ecology and host-associated microbes, especially in the gut microbiome of a model insect species.
ISME COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Review
Microbiology
Erick V. S. Motta, Nancy A. Moran
Summary: The gut microbiota plays a key role in honeybee biology and health, interacting with the host and each other through cross-feeding and antagonistic interactions to maintain community stability and prevent pathogen invasion. Agrochemicals such as insecticides can disrupt the gut microbiota, negatively impacting bee health.
NATURE REVIEWS MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)