State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology Southern China, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangzhou, China.
PLoS Genet. 2018 Oct 17;14(10):e1007725. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007725. eCollection 2018 Oct.
Symbiotic bacteria are important drivers of phenotypic diversity in insects. One of the widespread symbionts to have emerged belongs to the genus Arsenophonus, however, its biological functions in most host insects remain entirely unknown. Here we report two distinct Arsenophonus strains in the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, a major pest insect in Asian countries that causes significant economic damage through rice crop destruction. Genomic resequencing data suggested that one Arsenophonus strain (S-type) negatively affected the insecticide resistance of the host. Indeed, replacement of the resident Arsenophonus with the S-type Arsenophonus significantly decreased host insecticide resistance. Transcriptome and metabolome analysis revealed down-regulation of xenobiotic metabolism and increased amino acid accumulation in the S-type Arsenophonus infected host. This study demonstrates how a symbiont-mediated phenotypic change can occur. The results of this study will aid in developing strategies that work through imposing an ecological disadvantage on insect pests, which will be of great value for pest control in agricultural industry.
共生细菌是昆虫表型多样性的重要驱动因素。其中一种广泛存在的共生体属于阿氏菌属（Arsenophonus），然而，其在大多数宿主昆虫中的生物学功能仍然完全未知。在这里，我们报告了在褐飞虱（BPH）中存在两种不同的阿氏菌属菌株，褐飞虱是亚洲国家的一种主要害虫，通过破坏水稻作物造成重大经济损失。基因组重测序数据表明，一种阿氏菌属菌株（S 型）对宿主的抗药性有负面影响。事实上，用 S 型阿氏菌属取代驻留的阿氏菌属显著降低了宿主的抗药性。转录组和代谢组分析显示，感染 S 型阿氏菌属的宿主中外源物质代谢下调，氨基酸积累增加。本研究证明了共生体介导的表型变化是如何发生的。本研究的结果将有助于制定通过对害虫施加生态劣势的策略，这对于农业产业中的害虫控制将具有重要价值。
