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Vela J, Mora P, Montiel EE, Rico-Porras JM, Sanllorente O, Amoasii D, Lorite P, Palomeque T. Exploring horizontal transfer of mariner transposable elements among ants and aphids. Gene 2024; 899:148144. [PMID: 38195050 DOI: 10.1016/j.gene.2024.148144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 01/11/2024]
Abstract
Aphids and ants are mutualistic species with a close space-time relationship, which may facilitate the occurrence of horizontal transfer events between these insect groups. Myrmar-like mariner elements were previously isolated from two ant (Myrmica ruginodis and Tapinoma ibericum) and two aphid species (Aphis fabae and Aphis hederae). The aim of this work is to determine the presence of Myrmar-like mariner elements in new ant and aphid species, as well as to analyze the likelihood of horizontal transfer events between these taxa. To accomplish this, the Myrmar-like element has been isolated from five aphid species and six ant species. Among these new analyzed species, full-length Myrmar-like mariner elements with very high sequence similarity have been isolated from the aphids Aphis nerii, Aphis spiraecola, Brachycaudus cardui, and Rhopalosiphum maidis as well as from the ants Lasius grandis and Lasius niger, even though aphids and ants belong to two insect orders (Hemiptera and Hymenoptera) that have evolved independently for at least 300 million-years. Both Lasius species establish frequent mutualistic relationships with multiple aphid species, including A. nerii, A. spiraecola, and B. cardui. The study of the putative protein encoded by them and the phylogenetic analysis suggests that they could be active transposons shared by aphids and ants through horizontal transfer events. Additionally, mariner elements with internal deletion were found in several aphids and one ant species, showing a high degree of sequence similarity among them. The characteristics of these elements with internal deletion suggest a complex origin involving various evolutionary processes, possibly including also horizontal transfer events. Myrmar-like elements have also been isolated from the other ant species, although without similarity with the aphid mariner sequences. Myrmar-like elements are also present in phylogenetically distant insect species, as well as in one crustacean species. The phylogenetic study carried out with all Myrmar-like elements suggests the probable occurrence of horizontal transfer events.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jesús Vela
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
| | - Pablo Mora
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
| | - Eugenia E Montiel
- Departamento de Biología (Genética), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain; Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
| | - José M Rico-Porras
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
| | - Olivia Sanllorente
- Departamento de Zoología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.
| | - Daniela Amoasii
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
| | - Pedro Lorite
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
| | - Teresa Palomeque
- Departamento de Biología Experimental, Área de Genética, Universidad de Jaén, 23071 Jaén, Spain.
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Alotaibi NJ, Alsufyani T, M'sakni NH, Almalki MA, Alghamdi EM, Spiteller D. Rapid Identification of Aphid Species by Headspace GC-MS and Discriminant Analysis. INSECTS 2023; 14:589. [PMID: 37504595 PMCID: PMC10380428 DOI: 10.3390/insects14070589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Revised: 06/22/2023] [Accepted: 06/23/2023] [Indexed: 07/29/2023]
Abstract
Aphids are a ubiquitous group of pests in agriculture that cause serious losses. For sustainable aphid identification, it is necessary to develop a precise and fast aphid identification tool. A new simple chemotaxonomy approach to rapidly identify aphids was implemented. The method was calibrated in comparison to the established phylogenetic analysis. For chemotaxonomic analysis, aphids were crushed, their headspace compounds were collected through closed-loop stripping (CLS) and analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). GC-MS data were then subjected to a discriminant analysis using CAP12.exe software, which identified key biomarkers that distinguish aphid species. A dichotomous key taking into account the presence and absence of a set of species-specific biomarkers was derived from the discriminant analysis which enabled rapid and reliable identification of aphid species. As the method overcomes the limits of morphological identification, it works with aphids at all life stages and in both genders. Thus, our method enables entomologists to assign aphids to growth stages and identify the life history of the investigated aphids, i.e., the food plant(s) they fed on. Our experiments clearly showed that the method could be used as a software to automatically identify aphids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noura J Alotaibi
- Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Taghreed Alsufyani
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Nour Houda M'sakni
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Mona A Almalki
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
| | - Eman M Alghamdi
- Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, King AbdulAziz University, P.O. Box 80200, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
| | - Dieter Spiteller
- Chemical Ecology/Biological Chemistry, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
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