Gated Communities: Inter- and Intraspecific Diversity of Endosymbionts Across Four Sympatric Aphid Species

Aphids have evolved tight relationships with heritable endosymbionts, i.e., bacteria hosted within their tissues. Besides the primary endosymbiont Buchnera aphidicola , aphids host many facultative secondary endosymbionts functions they may or not benefit from. The different phenologies, lifestyles, and natural enemies of aphid species are predicted to favor selection for distinct assemblages, as well emergence intra-specific genetic diversity in symbiotic bacteria. In this study, we (1) investigated associated four from genus Aphis field, (2) characterized Hamiltonella defensa an that protects against parasitoid wasps. We observed strong differences composition communities among species. H. was clearly dominant symbiont, although its abundance each varied 25 96%. Using a multilocus sequence-typing approach, found limited strain . Each harbored two major strains, none appeared shared between Symbiont phylogenies can thus help understand (seemingly limited) mobility forces driving diversification.