Everett Karin D E, Thao MyLo, Horn Matthias, Dyszynski Glen E, Baumann Paul
Department of Biology, Box 355325, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-5325, USA.
Microbiology Section, University of California, Davis, CA 95616-8665, USA.
Int J Syst Evol Microbiol. 2005 Jul;55(Pt 4):1581-1587. doi: 10.1099/ijs.0.63454-0.
Bacteria called 'Fritschea' are endosymbionts of the plant-feeding whitefly Bemisia tabaci and scale insect Eriococcus spurius. In the gut of B. tabaci, these bacteria live within bacteriocyte cells that are transmitted directly from the parent to oocytes. Whiteflies cause serious economic damage to many agricultural crops; B. tabaci fecundity and host range are less than those of Bemisia argentifolii, possibly due to the presence of this endosymbiont. The B. tabaci endosymbiont has been characterized using electron microscopy and DNA analysis but has not been isolated or propagated outside of insects. The present study compared sequences for 11 endosymbiont genes to genomic data for chlamydial families Parachlamydiaceae, Chlamydiaceae and Simkaniaceae and to 16S rRNA gene signature sequences from 330 chlamydiae. We concluded that it was appropriate to propose 'Candidatus Fritschea bemisiae' strain Falk and 'Candidatus Fritschea eriococci' strain Elm as members of the family Simkaniaceae in the Chlamydiales.
名为“弗里奇菌属”（Fritschea）的细菌是植食性烟粉虱（Bemisia tabaci）和蚧壳虫（Eriococcus spurius）的内共生菌。在烟粉虱的肠道中，这些细菌生活在菌细胞内，菌细胞直接从亲代传递到卵母细胞。烟粉虱会对许多农作物造成严重的经济损失；烟粉虱的繁殖力和寄主范围小于银叶粉虱（Bemisia argentifolii），这可能是由于这种内共生菌的存在。烟粉虱的内共生菌已通过电子显微镜和DNA分析进行了表征，但尚未在昆虫体外分离或繁殖。本研究将11个内共生菌基因的序列与衣原体科（Parachlamydiaceae）、衣原体科（Chlamydiaceae）和西姆卡尼亚科（Simkaniaceae）的基因组数据以及来自330种衣原体的16S rRNA基因特征序列进行了比较。我们得出结论，建议将“暂定烟粉虱弗里奇菌”（Candidatus Fritschea bemisiae）菌株福尔克（Falk）和“暂定蚧壳虫弗里奇菌”（Candidatus Fritschea eriococci）菌株埃尔姆（Elm）作为衣原体目西姆卡尼亚科的成员是合适的。
