The Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Crop Pathogens and Insects, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich, Kent, ME4 4TB, UK.
Environ Microbiol. 2020 Apr;22(4):1207-1221. doi: 10.1111/1462-2920.14927. Epub 2020 Feb 5.
The bacterium Rickettsia is found widely in phytophagous insects and often exerts profound effects on the phenotype and fitness of its hosts. Here, we decrypt a new, independent, phylogenetically ancient Torix Rickettsia endosymbiont found constantly in a laboratory line of an economically important insect Asia II 7, a putative species of the Bemisia tabaci whitefly complex (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), and occasionally in field whitefly populations. This new Rickettsia distributes throughout the body of its whitefly host. Genetically, compared to Rickettsia_bellii_MEAM1 found earlier in whiteflies, the new Rickettsia species has more gene families and pathways, which may be important factors in shaping specific symbiotic relationships. We propose the name 'Candidatus Rickettsia_Torix_Bemisia_tabaci (RiTBt)' for this new endosymbiont associated with whiteflies. Comparative genomic analyses indicate that RiTBi may be a relatively recent intruder in whiteflies given its low abundance in the field and relatively larger genome compared to Rickettsia_bellii_MEAM1.
广泛存在于植食性昆虫中的细菌立克次氏体，常常对宿主的表型和适应度产生深远影响。在这里，我们解码了一个新的、独立的、进化上古老的 Torix 立克次氏体共生体，它在一个经济上重要的昆虫亚洲 II 7 的实验室系中不断被发现，该昆虫可能是烟粉虱复合种（半翅目：粉虱科）的一个假定种，偶尔也会在田间粉虱种群中被发现。这种新的立克次氏体分布在其粉虱宿主的全身。从基因上讲，与先前在粉虱中发现的 Rickettsia_bellii_MEAM1 相比，新的立克次氏体物种具有更多的基因家族和途径，这可能是形成特定共生关系的重要因素。我们建议将与粉虱相关的这种新共生体命名为“候选立克次氏体-Torix-烟粉虱（RiTBt）”。比较基因组分析表明，RiTBi 可能是粉虱中相对较新的入侵者，因为它在田间的丰度较低，与 Rickettsia_bellii_MEAM1 相比基因组相对较大。
