Symbiotic Bacterium Modifies Aphid Body Color
2010
Tsuchida, Kyōson | Koga, Ryuichi | Horikawa, Mitsuyo | Tsunoda, Tetsuto | Maoka, Takashi | Matsumoto, Shogo | Simon, Jean-Christophe | Fukatsu, Takema
Color variation within populations of the pea aphid influences relative susceptibility to predators and parasites. We have discovered that infection with a facultative endosymbiont of the genus Rickettsiella changes the insects' body color from red to green in natural populations. Approximately 8% of pea aphids collected in Western Europe carried the Rickettsiella infection. The infection increased amounts of blue-green polycyclic quinones, whereas it had less of an effect on yellow-red carotenoid pigments. The effect of the endosymbiont on body color is expected to influence prey-predator interactions, as well as interactions with other endosymbionts.
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