Brewer, W. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2024

Draft genome sequence of the glasshouse-potato aphid Aulacorthum solani

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWAulacorthum solani is a worldwide agricultural pest aphid capable of feeding on a wide range of host plants. This insect causes mechanical damage to crops and is a vector of plant viruses. We found that the publicly available genome for A. solani is contaminated with another aphid species, and we produced a new genome using a barcoded isogenic laboratory line. We produced Oxford Nanopore and Illumina reads to generate a draft assembly, and we sequenced RNA to aid in the annotation of our assembly. Our A. solani draft genome is 671 Mbp containing 7,020 contigs with an N50 length of 196 kb with a BUSCO completeness of 98.6%. Out of the 24,981 genes predicted by E-GAPx, 22,804 were annotated with putative functions based on homology to other aphid species. This genome will provide a useful resource for the community of researchers studying aphids from agricultural and genomic perspectives.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2023

Pathogen-microbiome interactions and the virulence of an entomopathogenic fungus

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWBacteria shape interactions between hosts and fungal pathogens. In some cases, bacteria associated with fungi are essential for pathogen virulence. In other systems, host associated microbiomes confer resistance against fungal pathogens. We studied an aphid-specific entomopathogenic fungus called Pandora neoaphidis in the context of both host and pathogen microbiomes. Aphids host several species of heritable bacteria, some of which confer resistance against Pandora. We first found that spores that emerged from aphids that harbored protective bacteria were less virulent against subsequent hosts and did not grow on plate media. We then used 16S amplicon sequencing to study the bacterial microbiome of fungal mycelia and spores during plate culturing and host infection. We found that the bacterial community is remarkably stable in culture despite dramatic changes in pathogen virulence. Last, we used an experimentally transformed symbiont of aphids to show that Pandora can acquire hostassociated bacteria during infection. Our results uncover new roles for bacteria in the dynamics of aphidpathogen interactions and illustrate the importance of the broader microbiological context in studies of fungal pathogenesis.

microbiology↗