Exploration for facultative endosymbionts of glassy-winged sharpshooter (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae)

Abstract

Homalodisca vitripennis (Germar) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), glassy-winged sharp-shooter, was collected in California and several states in the southeastern United States in 2002 and 2003 and analyzed for endosymbiotic bacteria. Hemolymph, eggs, and bacteriomes were examined for the presence of bacteria by polymerase chain reaction. A subset of hemolymph and egg samples had their 16S rRNA gene amplicons cloned and sequenced or analyzed by restriction digest patterns of samples compared with known bacterial DNA. Baumannia cicadellinicola, one of the primary symbionts of glassy-winged sharpshooter, was found in the majority of hemolymph samples, although it has been considered until now to reside primarily inside the specialized host bacteriocytes. Wolbachia sp., a common secondary symbiont in many insect taxa investigated to date, was the second most frequently detected bacterium in hemolymph samples. In addition, we detected bacteria that were most closely related (by 16S rRNA gene sequence) to Pseudomonas, Stenotrophomonas, and Acinetobacter in hemolymph samples of one and/or two glassy-winged sharpshooters, but their origin is uncertain. © 2007 Entomological Society of America.