Variable symbiont transmission and benefits in a leaf-footed bug – Burkholderia symbiosis

Sunday, November 13, 2022

8:05 AM – 8:20 AM PT

Location: Vancouver Convention Centre, Meeting Room 118

Presenting Author(s)

Martha S. Hunter

Professor/Dr.
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Co-author(s)

EU

Edwin F. Umanzor

Graduate student
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
LS

Liam T. Sullivan

Graduate Student
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona

Co-Author(s)

SK

Suzanne E. Kelly

Laboratory Manager
University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
AR

Alison Ravenscraft (she/her/hers)

Assistant Professor
University of Texas
Arlington, Texas

Bacterial symbionts that are necessary for insect host nutrition are often maternally-inherited, with an almost perfect rate of vertical transmission. Interestingly, in several coreoid and lygeoid bug families, second instar nymphs must find and ingest their symbiotic Burkholderia bacteria from the environment. We are studying the transmission and fitness consequences of Burkholderia for an arboreal leaf-footed bug, Leptoglossus zonatus. We find that Burkholderia is an obligate symbiont for this bug; few aposymbiotic nymphs reach adulthood at all. Further, not all Burkholderia in the insect-associated SBE clade are equally beneficial for bug development. Lastly, we find that acquisition of the symbiont in nature may not be guaranteed. In two seasons of experiments, few host nymphs confined in the pomegranate tree canopy acquired their symbiont. Our working hypothesis is that variation in efficiency of symbiont acquisition as well as in Burkholderia isolate identities may lead to unpredictable, boom and bust population dynamics.