Current Microbiology (1996) 33, 123-128

De-Qiao Chen, Bruce C. Campbell and Alexander H. Purcell (1996)
A new rickettsia from a herbivorous insect, the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Harris)
Current Microbiology 33 (2), 123-128
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, 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.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Alexander H. Purcell

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Acyrthosiphon pisum		U.S.A. (SW)