beetlebellyeasts
Biotic Surveys & Inventories
This is a collaborative
project funded by the National Science
Foundation
Grant No. 0072741
(May 2001 to 2003)
© Sung-Oui Suh,
Meredith
Blackwell, and Joseph V. McHugh
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as habitat / Insects / Yeasts
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II / Mycology at LSU
Sung-Oui Suh and
Meredith
Blackwell
Department of Biological
Sciences,
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
Joseph V. McHugh
Department of Entomology,
University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602
Beetles
and their yeast endosymbionts from basidiocarp habitats
Panama
2001(photographs)
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/ Introduction / Participants / Basidiocarps
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Introduction
Over
the last century the recognition of the presence of endosymbionts in a
variety of arthropods has become well established. Intense interest in
the prokaryotic rickettsial endosymbionts, widespread among insects
(van
Meer, Witteveldt, and Stouthamer, 1999), has led to the discovery that
the rickettsia may induce sterility of the host. Thus, speciation or
increased
rates of speciation have been attributed to the presence of the
symbionts
(Shoemaker, Katju, and Jaenike, 1999). By contrast, although there were
a number of early reports of fungal endosymbionts of insects, few of
them
were substantiated (Buchner, 1965). Until now, yeasts and yeast-like
fungi
have been known from the gut only of a small group of planthoppers
(Homoptera)
and of three families of beetles (Coleoptera: Anobiidae, Cerambycidae,
and Scolytidae) (Table 1). We believe that eukaryotic
endosymbionts
play an equally important role in insect evolution, and the example of
Symbiotaphrina
in detoxification of food resources for anobiid beetles (Dowd, 1989,
1991)
supports this contention. Another system, although not endosymbiotic,
the
cactophilic yeast-Drosophila associations studied by Starmer and
his colleagues (Starmer et al., 1991) provides another example of the
influence
that yeasts have in ameliorating the nutritional resources of insects.
Previously known species of
yeasts and
yeast-like endosymbionts in insects*
Host
insect /Fungus species
Homoptera
Nilaparvata
lugens/undescribed hypocreatean fungus
Sogatella
furcifera/undescribed hypocrealean fungus
Laodelphax
striatellus/undescribed hypocrealean fungus
Anobiidae
Lasioderma
serricorne/ Symbiotaphrina kochii
Sitodrepa paniceae/ Symbiotaphrina buchneri
Ernobius abietis/ Candida karawaiewii
Ernobius mollis/ Candida ernobii
Xestobium plumbeum/ Candida xestobii
Cerambycidae
Rhagium
inquisitor/ Candida rhagii
Rhagium mordax/ Candida tenuis
Rhagium bifasciatum/ Candida tenuis
Rhagium sycophanta/ Candida tenuis
Gaurotes virginea/ Candida rhagii
Leptura rubra/ Candida tenuis
Leptura maculicornis/ C. shehataevar. insectosa
Leptura
cerambyciformis/ C. shehataevar. insectosa
Leptura sanguinolenta/ Candida sp.
Phoracantha
semipunctata/ Candida tenuis
Microplophorus magellanicus/ Candida tenuisand Rhodotorula
glutinis
Grammicosum flavofasciatum/ Candida parapsilosisvar. intermedia
Ergates faber/ Candida ergatensis
Scolytidae
Dendroctonus
monticolae/ Candida nitratophila
*The list has been modified from that of
Nardon &
Grenier (1989). |
Recently we discovered
a
species-rich association between gut-associated endosymbiotic yeasts
and
basidiocarp-inhabiting beetles; the beetles presumably use fungi to eat
fungi. Beetles in the families we examined with this habitat
routinely
harbor distinctive yeasts. Placed in the context of previous knowledge
of endosymbiotic yeasts in only three families of beetles (see table
above), our finding of endosymbionts in seven out of the eight
beetle
families examined randomly (PDF)
portends the success of the project.
Preliminary results Our
preliminary results are intriguing. We have increased the number of
coleopteran
families known to harbor endosymbiotic yeasts from three to eight (see
table above) by looking at members of the first six beetle families
we encountered. Many of the taxa are undescribed species of
Saccharomycetales
that appear to have strict associations with particular groups of
mycophagous
beetles. We chose basidiocarps of agarics, boletes, puffballs, and
polypores
as habitats in which large numbers of taxonomically diverse beetles
could
be collected repeatedly at different localities; discovery of new
species
of yeasts in the gut of beetles feeding in these habitats far exceeded
our expectations. In fact of the six beetle families randomly sampled,
only one (Staphylinidae: Bolitocharini) lacked yeast associates! The
beetles
were collected from basidiocarps (Amanita sp., Boletus
sp.,
Inonotus
ludovicianus, Ganoderma lucidum,
Fomitella supina, and
Pisolithus
tinctorius) in southern Louisiana and Athens, Georgia. The target
basidiocarps
occur widely and are relatively easy to spot in the field; they harbor
a diverse group of beetles. Beetles have been found repeatedly at
different
localities in the eight months of the year in which we sampled.
The preliminary data have
lead
us to the following conclusions:
- Morphological and
molecular
data show
that the yeast isolates are saccharomycetalean species; several
basidiomycetous
yeasts in Tremellales also were isolated.
- Undescribed yeasts were
discovered
in association with nitidulid, erotylid, tenebrionid, ciid, and
scarabaeid
beetles. The yeasts are considered to be truly symbiotic because of
their
repeated collection at different localities over time indicating their
high degree of specificity with a particular beetle. Controls rule out
the possibility of mere surface contamination of the beetles.
- The yeasts usually are
localized in
outpockets of the midgut, such as the gastric caecae as in Megalodacne
heros (McHugh, Marshall, and Fawcett. 1997).
- In addition to
endosymbionts,
occasional
“rare” nonsymbiotic yeasts have been cultured from beetle gut contents.
- None of the undescribed
yeasts is closely
related to previously described endosymbionts of other beetles with two
exceptions: some isolates are a sister group to Candida xestobii,
a known anobiid beetle symbiont. One other yeast isolated a single time
is related to Pichea ohmeri and species related to that yeast
are
dispersed by nitiduliids among cactus flowers (Rosa et al., 1999).
- Closely related but
distinct
yeasts
may be found in different beetles inhabiting the same basidiocarp, and
beetles may harbor several yeasts that are closely and/or distantly
related.
- The D1/D2 region of 26S
rDNA
sequences
of over 600 species of yeasts (Kurtzman and Robnett, 1998, and updates)
resolved near the species level and was useful for identification of
most
ascomycetous yeasts in this study; metabolic tests supplemented
the
DNA analysis for greater resolution in identification of a few isolates.
- Some endosymbiotic yeast
isolates utilized
casamino acids, lipids, and gelatin, but none gave a positive reaction
on chitin, cellulose, or pectin substrates.
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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science
Foundation
under Grant No. 0072741. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or
recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not
necessarily
reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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Last update: 5 May 2001
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