Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype
Secondary endosymbionts of aphids have an important ecological and evolutionary impact on their host, as they provide resistance to natural enemies but also reduce the host’s lifespan and reproduction. While secondary symbionts of aphids are faithfully transmitted from mother to offspring, they also...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.628755/full |
| _version_ | 1831738611404374016 |
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| author | Heidi Kaech Heidi Kaech Christoph Vorburger Christoph Vorburger |
| author_facet | Heidi Kaech Heidi Kaech Christoph Vorburger Christoph Vorburger |
| author_sort | Heidi Kaech |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Secondary endosymbionts of aphids have an important ecological and evolutionary impact on their host, as they provide resistance to natural enemies but also reduce the host’s lifespan and reproduction. While secondary symbionts of aphids are faithfully transmitted from mother to offspring, they also have some capacity to be transmitted horizontally between aphids. Here we explore whether 11 isolates from 3 haplotypes of the secondary endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa differ in their capacity for horizontal transmission. These isolates vary in the protection they provide against parasitoid wasps as well as the costs they inflict on their host, Aphis fabae. We simulated natural horizontal transmission through parasitoid wasps by stabbing aphids with a thin needle and assessed horizontal transmission success of the isolates from one shared donor clone into three different recipient clones. Specifically, we asked whether potentially costly isolates reaching high cell densities in aphid hosts are more readily transmitted through this route. This hypothesis was only partially supported. While transmissibility increased with titre for isolates from two haplotypes, isolates of the H. defensa haplotype 1 were transmitted with greater frequency than isolates of other haplotypes with comparable titres. Thus, it is not sufficient to be merely frequent—endosymbionts might have to evolve specific adaptations to transmit effectively between hosts. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T13:25:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-526a315dfef9429b8f3a3484013e10b5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T13:25:37Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-526a315dfef9429b8f3a3484013e10b52022-12-21T19:02:28ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2021-01-011110.3389/fmicb.2020.628755628755Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and HaplotypeHeidi Kaech0Heidi Kaech1Christoph Vorburger2Christoph Vorburger3Department Aquatic Ecology, Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Dübendorf, SwitzerlandDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandDepartment Aquatic Ecology, Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), Dübendorf, SwitzerlandDepartment of Environmental Systems Science, Institute of Integrative Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandSecondary endosymbionts of aphids have an important ecological and evolutionary impact on their host, as they provide resistance to natural enemies but also reduce the host’s lifespan and reproduction. While secondary symbionts of aphids are faithfully transmitted from mother to offspring, they also have some capacity to be transmitted horizontally between aphids. Here we explore whether 11 isolates from 3 haplotypes of the secondary endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa differ in their capacity for horizontal transmission. These isolates vary in the protection they provide against parasitoid wasps as well as the costs they inflict on their host, Aphis fabae. We simulated natural horizontal transmission through parasitoid wasps by stabbing aphids with a thin needle and assessed horizontal transmission success of the isolates from one shared donor clone into three different recipient clones. Specifically, we asked whether potentially costly isolates reaching high cell densities in aphid hosts are more readily transmitted through this route. This hypothesis was only partially supported. While transmissibility increased with titre for isolates from two haplotypes, isolates of the H. defensa haplotype 1 were transmitted with greater frequency than isolates of other haplotypes with comparable titres. Thus, it is not sufficient to be merely frequent—endosymbionts might have to evolve specific adaptations to transmit effectively between hosts.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.628755/fullAphis fabaeHamiltonella defensahorizontal transmissionsymbionttitre |
| spellingShingle | Heidi Kaech Heidi Kaech Christoph Vorburger Christoph Vorburger Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype Frontiers in Microbiology Aphis fabae Hamiltonella defensa horizontal transmission symbiont titre |
| title | Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype |
| title_full | Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype |
| title_fullStr | Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype |
| title_full_unstemmed | Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype |
| title_short | Horizontal Transmission of the Heritable Protective Endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa Depends on Titre and Haplotype |
| title_sort | horizontal transmission of the heritable protective endosymbiont hamiltonella defensa depends on titre and haplotype |
| topic | Aphis fabae Hamiltonella defensa horizontal transmission symbiont titre |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.628755/full |
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