Abstract.
An undescribed, maternally heritable, rod-shaped bacterium (or “tertiary symbiont”) was detected by microscopy in hemolymph of about half (59/122) of pea aphid [Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris)] clones collected from widely separated locations in California. On the basis of molecular phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA sequences, the bacterium was clearly placed among other Rickettsia in the α-subgroup of Proteobacteria, close to Rickettsia bellii—a rickettsia found in ticks. A PCR assay was developed to detect this bacterium in pea aphid clones with specific 16S rDNA PCR primers. Results of PCR-based assays completely correlated with detection by microscopy. This is the first confirmed detection of a Rickettsia in a herbivorous insect.
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Received: 26 January 1996
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Chen, DQ., Campbell, B. & Purcell, A. A New Rickettsia from a Herbivorous Insect, the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris). Curr Microbiol 33, 123–128 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s002849900086
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s002849900086