Assessment of bacterial endosymbionts and the host, <i>Bemisia tabaci</i> (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), using rRNA and mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences

Abstract

Endosymbionts are vital factor for arthropod ecology. The whitefly <i>Bemisia tabaci</i> (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a cryptic species complex composed of more than 34 putative species. Moreover to the primary endosymbiont <i>Portiera aleyrodidarum</i>, six secondary endosymbionts <i>Cardinium</i>, <i>Arsenophonus</i>, <i>Rickettsia</i>, <i>Wolbachia, Hamiltonella</i> and <i>Fritschea</i> are known in <i>B</i>. <i>tabaci</i>. Here, we tested four of the six secondary endosymbiont lineages (excluding <i>Fritschea</i> and <i>Hamiltonella</i>) from 180 whitely individuals collected from six host plants belonging to families Solanaceae (Brinjal, Tomato and Potato) and Fabaceae (Soyabean, Mungbean and Subabool). Phylogenetic studies grounded on the mitochondrial cytochrome I gene revealed the presence of Asia 1, Asia II 1 and Asia II 7 genetic groups for <i>B. tabaci</i>. Specific primers targeting 16S rRNA and 23S rRNA gene were used for estimating the bacterial endosymbionts. As a primary endosymbiont <i>Portiera aleyrodidarum</i> was present in all the studied samples; whereas, an uneven distribution of secondary endosymbionts were recorded. Overall our finding exposes the variation and diversity of endosymbionts within the <i>B. tabaci</i> collected from different host plants and outlines the genetic groups of the insect pest. The study delivers a significant information concerning the circulation of secondary endosymbionts with host preferences of <i>B. tabaci</i> and provides suggestion for progressive studies on targeting the specific endosymbionts with respect to host for the control measures.