Comparison between the anatomical and morphological structure of leaf blades and foliar domatia in the ant-plant Hirtella physophora (Chrysobalanaceae)

Background and Aims: Myrmecophytes, or ant-plants, are characterized by their abilityto shelter colonies of some ant species in hollow structures,or ant-domatia, that are often formed by hypertrophy of theinternal tissue at specific locations (i.e. trunk, branches,thorns and leaf pouches). In Hirtella physophora (Chrysobalanaceae),the focal species of this study, the ant-domatia consist ofleaf pouches formed when the leaf rolls over onto itself tocreate two spheres at the base of the blade. Methods: The morphological and anatomical changes through which foliarant-domatia developed from the laminas are studied for the firsttime by using fresh and fixed mature leaves from the same H.physophora individuals. Key results: Ant-domatia were characterized by larger extra-floral nectaries,longer stomatal apertures and lower stomatal density. The anatomicalstructure of the domatia differed in the parenchymatous tissuewhere palisade and spongy parenchyma were indistinct; chloroplastdensity was lower and lignified sclerenchymal fibres were morenumerous compared with the lamina. In addition, the domatiawere thicker than the lamina, largely because the parenchymatousand epidermal cells were enlarged. Conclusions: Herein, the morphological and anatomical changes that permitfoliar ant-domatia to be defined as a specialized leaf structureare highlighted. Similarities as well as structural modificationsin the foliar ant-domatia compared with the lamina are discussedfrom botanical, functional and mutualistic points of view. Theseresults are also important to understanding the reciprocal evolutionarychanges in traits and, thus, the coevolutionary processes occurringin insect–plant mutualisms.     

Reproduction and dispersal in an ant-associated root aphid community

Clonal organisms with occasional sex are important for our general understanding of the costs and benefits that maintain sexual reproduction. Cyclically parthenogenetic aphids are highly variable in their frequency of sexual reproduction. However, studies have mostly focused on free‐living aphids above ground, whereas dispersal constraints and dependence on ant‐tending may differentially affect the costs and benefits of sex in subterranean aphids. Here, we studied reproductive mode and dispersal in a community of root aphids that are obligately associated with the ant Lasius flavus. We assessed the genetic population structure of four species (Geoica utricularia, Tetraneura ulmi, Forda marginata and Forda formicaria) in a Dutch population and found that all species reproduce predominantly if not exclusively asexually, so that populations consist of multiple clonal lineages. We show that population viscosity is high and winged aphids rare, consistent with infrequent horizontal transmission between ant host colonies. The absence of the primary host shrub (Pistacia) may explain the absence of sex in three of the studied species, but elm trees (Ulmus) that are primary hosts of the fourth species (T. ulmi) occurred within a few km of the study population. We discuss the extent to which obligate ant‐tending and absence of primary hosts may have affected selection for permanent parthenogenesis, and we highlight the need for further study of these aphids in Southern Europe where primary hosts may occur close to L. flavus populations, so that all four root aphid species would have realistic opportunities for completing their sexual life cycle.     

Localization and transmission route of Coriobacterium glomerans, the endosymbiont of pyrrhocorid bugs

Endosymbiotic gut bacteria play an essential role in the nutrition of many insects. Most of the nutritional interactions investigated so far involve gammaproteobacterial symbionts, whereas other groups have received comparatively little attention. Here, we report on the localization and the transmission route of the specific actinobacterial symbiont Coriobacterium glomerans from the gut of the red firebug, Pyrrhocoris apterus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae ). The symbionts were detected by diagnostic PCRs and FISH in the midgut section M3, in the rectum and in feces of the bugs as well as in the hemolymph of some females. Furthermore, adult female bugs apply the symbionts to the surface of the eggs during oviposition, from where they are later taken up by the hatchlings. Surface sterilization of egg clutches generated aposymbiotic insects and thereby confirmed the vertical transmission route via the egg surface. However, symbionts were readily acquired horizontally when the nymphs were reared in the presence of symbiont-containing eggshells, feces, or adult bugs. Using diagnostic PCRs and partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, closely related bacterial symbionts were detected in the cotton stainer bug Dysdercus fasciatus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae ), suggesting that the symbiosis with Actinobacteria may be widespread among pyrrhocorid bugs.     

Origins of cheating and loss of symbiosis in wild Bradyrhizobium

Rhizobial bacteria nodulate legume roots and fix nitrogen in exchange for photosynthates. These symbionts are infectiously acquired from the environment and in such cases selection models predict evolutionary spread of uncooperative mutants. Uncooperative rhizobia – including nonfixing and non‐nodulating strains – appear common in agriculture, yet their population biology and origins remain unknown in natural soils. Here, a phylogenetically broad sample of 62 wild‐collected rhizobial isolates was experimentally inoculated onto Lotus strigosus to assess their nodulation ability and effects on host growth. A cheater strain was discovered that proliferated in host tissue while offering no benefit; its fitness was superior to that of beneficial strains. Phylogenetic reconstruction of Bradyrhizobium rDNA and transmissible symbiosis‐island loci suggest that the cheater evolved via symbiotic gene transfer. Many strains were also identified that failed to nodulate L. strigosus, and it appears that nodulation ability on this host has been recurrently lost in the symbiont population. This is the first study to reveal the adaptive nature of rhizobial cheating and to trace the evolutionary origins of uncooperative rhizobial mutants.     

Parasitic worms: strategies of host finding, recognition and invasion

Many parasitic worms enter their hosts by active invasion. Their transmission success is often based on a mass production of invasive stages. However, most stages show a highly specific host-finding behaviour. Information on host-finding mechanisms is available mainly for trematode miracidia and cercariae and for nematode hookworms. The larvae find and recognise their hosts, in some cases even with species specificity, via complex sequences of behavioural patterns with which they successively respond to various environmental and host cues. There is often a surprisingly high diversity of host-recognition strategies. Each parasite species finds and enters its host using a different series of cues. For example, different species of schistosomes enter the human skin using different recognition sequences. The various recognition strategies may reflect adaptations to distinct ecological conditions of transmission. Another question is how, after invasion, parasitic worms find their complex paths through their host's tissues to their often very specific microhabitats. Recent data show that the migrating parasite stages can follow local chemical gradients of skin and blood compounds, but their long-distance navigation within the host body still remains puzzling.

The high complexity, specificity and diversity of host-recognition strategies suggest that host finding and host recognition are important determinants in the evolution of parasite life cycles.     

烟粉虱内共生菌 Rickettsia 在植物体内的分布及转移效率初探

【目的】检测 Q 型烟粉虱 Bemisia tabaci （Gennadius）体内 Rickettsia 的感染情况,研究分析Rickettsia 共生菌经烟粉虱传入豇豆植物后的分布、转移效率等。【方法】以 Q 型烟粉虱为实验材料,利用常规 PCR 及荧光原位杂交技术(FISH),检测了烟粉虱体内 Rickettsia 的感染率,以及 Rickettsia 传入豇豆植物体内后的存留情况。【结果】 Q 型烟粉虱可以通过取食将 Rickettsia 传至豇豆植株内;接虫数量与 Rickettsia传入效率及其在取食部位相邻的下部叶片中检测到的起始时间呈负相关;Rickettsia 经烟粉虱取食传入豇豆叶片后,集中分布在叶片的韧皮部筛管中;基于16S rRNA 的系统发育分析结果表明,Q 型烟粉虱体内的Rickettsia 与经取食传入豇豆叶片的 Rickettsia 高度同源。【结论】 Rickettsia 可以通过烟粉虱的取食传入植物体内,并且可以在相邻叶片之间转移传播,Rickettsia 在由寄主昆虫向植株传播过程中高度保守。     

Floral volatiles, pollinator sharing and diversification in the fig-wasp mutualism: insights from Ficus natalensis, and its two wasp pollinators (South Africa)

Combining biogeographic, ecological, morphological, molecular and chemical data, we document departure from strict specialization in the fig-pollinating wasp mutualism. We show that the pollinating wasps Elisabethiella stuckenbergi and Elisabethiella socotrensis form a species complex of five lineages in East and Southern Africa. Up to two morphologically distinct lineages were found to co-occur locally in the southern African region. Wasps belonging to a single lineage were frequently the main regional pollinators of several Ficus species. In South Africa, two sister lineages, E. stuckenbergi and E. socotrensis, pollinate Ficus natalensis but only E. stuckenbergi also regularly pollinates Ficus burkei. The two wasp species co-occur in individual trees of F. natalensis throughout KwaZulu-Natal. Floral volatile blends emitted by F. natalensis in KwaZulu-Natal were similar to those emitted by F. burkei and different from those produced by other African Ficus species. The fig odour similarity suggests evolutionary convergence to attract particular wasp species. The observed pattern may result from selection for pollinator sharing among Ficus species. Such a process, with one wasp species regionally pollinating several hosts, but several wasp species pollinating a given Ficus species across its geographical range could play an important role in the evolutionary dynamics of the Ficus-pollinating wasp association.     

榕-蜂互惠关系中榕树对未传粉榕小蜂的惩罚效应

为验证榕树与其传粉榕小蜂这一严格的、一对一的互利共生系统中是否存在寄主惩罚效应,作者于2007年在云南省西双版纳热带植物园中对雌雄同株的垂叶榕（Ficus benjamina）进行了单果放蜂实验。将为垂叶榕传粉的榕小蜂（Eupristina koningsbergeri）处理成带粉和不带粉的两组,每组又分一只和两只两个水平,分别放进单个隐头花序果中。结果发现：没有传粉榕小蜂进入的隐头花序果会很快终止发育并脱落;而在放了传粉榕小蜂的隐头花序果里,除少数几个放一只不带粉的外,隐头花序果基本都能完成其生活史。但是,带粉雌蜂繁殖的后代小蜂数量显著高于没有带粉的雌蜂,特别是在放两只蜂的处理中。研究结果说明传粉榕小蜂的主动传粉对其繁殖不是必需的,但是主动传粉能增加其繁殖成功的几率。这些结果预示着寄主惩罚效应在榕-蜂互惠系统中发挥着作用。