Publications

4474

ABSTRACT Cardinium bacteria, members of the phylum Cytophaga - Flavobacterium - Bacteroides (CFB), are intracellular bacteria in arthropods that are capable of inducing reproductive abnormalities in their hosts, which include parasitic wasps, mites, and spiders. A high frequency of Cardinium infection was detected in planthoppers (27 out of 57 species were infected). A high frequency of Cardinium infection was also found in spider mites (9 out of 22 species were infected). Frequencies of double infection by Cardinium and Wolbachia bacteria ( Alphaproteobacteria capable of manipulating reproduction of their hosts) were disproportionately high in planthoppers but not in spider mites. A new group of bacteria, phylogenetically closely related to but distinct from previously described Cardinium bacteria (based on 16S rRNA and gyrB genes) was found in 4 out of 25 species of Culicoides biting midges. These bacteria possessed a microfilament-like structure that is a morphological feature previously found in Cardinium and Paenicardinium . The bacteria close to the genus Cardinium consist of at least three groups, A, B, and C. Group A is present in various species of arthropods and was previously referred to as “ Candidatus Cardinium hertigii,” group B is present in plant parasitic nematodes and was previously referred to as “ Candidatus Paenicardinium endonii,” and group C is present in Culicoides biting midges. On the basis of morphological and molecular data, we propose that the nomenclature of these three groups be integrated into a single species, “ Candidatus Cardinium hertigii.”

The specificity and sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers developed for ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ and ‘Candidatus Liberibacter psyllaurous’ were evaluated in conventional and real-time PCR assays. All PCR primers were specific for ‘Ca. L. psyllaurous’ and ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ insomuch as they did not detect other prokaryotic plant pathogens that affect potato except for the putative pathogens associated with psyllid-yellows and haywire. Conventional PCR assays were capable of detecting 0.19 to 1.56 ng of total DNA per reaction, and real-time PCR was found capable of detecting 1.56 to 6.25 ng of total DNA per reaction, depending on the specific PCR primer set used. ‘Ca. Liberibacter’ species associated with zebra complex disease (ZC) was confirmed in plants affected by this disease throughout Texas from 2005 to 2008, in seed tubers produced in Wyoming in 2007, and in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and Mexico in 2008. A multiplex PCR assay using ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’–specific primers and primers specific for the β-tubulin DNA regions from potato was developed, providing possible utility of the multiplex assay for ‘Ca. Liberibacter’ detection in different solanaceous plant species. Preliminary studies suggest silverleaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium), wolfberry (Lycium barbarum), black nightshade (S. ptychanthum), and jalapeno pepper (Capsicum annuum) as additional solanaceous hosts for the ZC-associated bacterium. The ‘Ca. Liberibacter’ species detected in all samples divided into two clusters sharing similarity of 99.8% in their partial 16S rRNA gene sequences and 99.3% in their partial intergenic spacer region (ISR)-23S rRNA gene sequences. Genetic variation in the 16S rDNA region consistently matched that of the ISR-23S rDNA region. In this partial 16S-ISR-23S rDNA region, there was a total of eight single nucleotide polymorphisms among ‘Ca. L. psyllaurous’ and ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ “strains” investigated in this study. ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ and ‘Ca. L. psyllaurous’ were shown to be very closely related bacteria, if not the same, by successful amplification using a combination of forward primer of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ and reverse primer of ‘Ca. L. psyllaurous’ in ZC-affected potato samples. This finding clarifies the current taxonomic status of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ and ‘Ca. L. psyllaurous’. The detection of ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ from haywire-symptomatic potato samples demonstrates that this bacterium might also be associated with this disease.

Intracellular bacterial symbionts are known from various insect groups, particularly from those feeding on unbalanced diets, where the bacteria provide essential nutrients to the host. In the case of reed beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae, Donaciinae), however, the endosymbionts appear to be associated with specialized “glands” that secrete a material used for the beetles’ unusual water-tight cocoon. These glands were discovered over a century ago, but the bacteria they contain have yet to be characterized and placed in a phylogenetic context. Here, we describe the ultrastructure of two endosymbiotic species (“ Candidatus Macropleicola appendiculatae” and “ Candidatus Macropleicola muticae”) that reside in cells of the Malpighian tubules of the reed beetle species Macroplea appendiculata and Macroplea mutica , respectively. Fluorescent in situ hybridization using oligonucleotides targeting the 16S rRNA gene specific to Macroplea symbionts verified the localization of the symbionts in these organs. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA placed “Candidatus Macropleicola” in a clade of typically endosymbiotic Enterobacteriaceae (γ-proteobacteria). Finally, we discuss the evidence available for the hypothesis that the beetle larvae use a secretion produced by the bacteria for the formation of an underwater cocoon.

Bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) plants exhibiting symptoms that resembled those of potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli Sulc) damage and “Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum” infection (2) were observed in a pepper field in La Cruz de Elota, Sinaloa, México in March 2009, with an infection rate of 1.5%. Plants exhibited chlorotic or pale green apical growth and leaf cupping, sharp tapering of the leaf apex, shortened internodes, and an overall stunting (2). Total DNA was extracted from the top whole leaf tissue of nine symptomatic and five asymptomatic pepper plants with cetyltrimethylammoniumbromide (CTAB) buffer (3,4). Seven and eight of the nine selected symptomatic pepper plants yielded the expected 1,168-bp 16S rDNA and the expected 669-bp rplJ/rplL ribosomal protein gene amplicons with the “Ca. L. solanacearum” specific OA2/OI2c and CL514F/CL514R primer pairs, respectively, indicating the presence of liberibacter (2,4). Nucleic acid from asymptomatic pepper plants yielded no products with these primers. Three amplicons generated from symptomatic pepper plants with each primer pair were cloned into pCRII-TOPO plasmid vectors (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA) and three clones of each amplicon were sequenced in both directions (ACGT, Inc., Wheeling, IL). BLAST analysis of the 16S rDNA consensus sequence (GenBank Accession No. FJ957896) showed 100% identity to 16S rDNA sequences of “Ca. L. solanacearum” amplified from Solanum betaceum (EU935004) and S. lycopersicum (EU834130) from New Zealand (2), and “Ca. L. psyllaurous” from potato psyllids (EU812559) (1). The ribosomal protein gene consensus sequence (GenBank Accession No. FJ957894) was 100% identical to the analogous rplJ and rplL “Ca. L. solanacearum” ribosomal protein gene sequence amplified from S. lycopersicum (EU834131) from New Zealand (2) and to ‘Ca. Liberibacter’ sp. sequence amplified from zebra chip-infected potato tubers from Lancaster, CA (FJ498803). To our knowledge, this is the first report of “Ca. L. solanacearum” associated with bell pepper in México. “Ca. L. solanacearum” was first reported in tomato and pepper plants in 2008 in New Zealand, where it has resulted in plant decline and significant yield loss, resulting in millions of dollars in losses to the commercial glasshouse tomato and pepper industry (2). Zebra chip, a new and emerging potato disease associated with ‘Ca. Liberibacter’ sp., was first identified in México in 1994, where it has caused significant economic damage, often leading to abandonment of entire potato fields (3,4). References: (1) A. K. Hansen et al. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 74:5862, 2008. (2) L. W. Liefting et al. Plant Dis. 93:208, 2009. (3) J. E. Munyaneza et al. J. Econ. Entomol. 100:656, 2007. (4) J. E. Munyaneza et al. Plant Dis. 93:552, 2009.