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Peer-reviewedCC BYMolecular Ecology

Spatial and Temporal Structure of Environmentally‐Acquired Caballeronia Symbionts of a Leaffooted Bug

  • Alison Ravenscraft1,2
  • Suzanne E. Kelly2
  • David R. Haviland3
  • Johnathan E. Adamson1
  • Martha S. Hunter2
  1. 1Department of Biology University of Texas at Arlington Arlington Texas USA
  2. 2Department of Entomology University of Arizona Tucson Arizona USA
  3. 3University of California Cooperative Extension, Kern County Bakersfield California USA
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Abstract

Animals that acquire beneficial microbial symbionts from their environment risk acquiring a sub-optimal partner, or no partner at all. The leaffooted bug Leptoglossus zonatus (Coreidae) acquires its Caballeronia (Burkholderiaceae) bacterial symbiont from the environment, presumably from local soil. Despite large contributions to the bug's fitness, young nymphs must re-acquire the symbiont every generation. To understand how the environmental reservoir of symbiont lineages shapes the insect's biology, we examined the role of space and time in the distribution of Burkholderia sensu lato (including Caballeronia) strains in bugs and soils. We compared samples within trees, within plots, within cities and among different cities in the Southwest USA. We also sampled Caballeronia in L. zonatus within a pomegranate orchard over 2 years. We found high Caballeronia diversity both in soils (32 lineages) and in bugs (29 lineages). Caballeronia lineages were spatially structured among soils and bugs, with fewer shared as distance between samples increased. Where a bug develops, therefore, influences the symbiont strain it acquires, consistent with a process of passive spatial turnover. Also, while some Caballeronia subclade frequencies in bugs approximated frequencies in soils, the Coreiodea-associated subclade of Caballeronia (SBE𝛿) was enriched in bugs. There was only slight turnover of strains in insects over time, suggesting that geographic variation is much more important than temporal change. Ultimately, understanding how symbiont strains of varying local benefit are distributed in space and time will help us predict how geography and seasonality are related to host fitness in environmentally acquired symbioses.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{ravenscraft2026spatial,
  title = {{Spatial and Temporal Structure of Environmentally‐Acquired Caballeronia Symbionts of a Leaffooted Bug}},
  author = {Alison Ravenscraft and Suzanne E. Kelly and David R. Haviland and Johnathan E. Adamson and Martha S. Hunter},
  journal = {Molecular Ecology},
  year = {2026},
  month = jul,
  doi = {10.1111/mec.70467},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70467},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Spatial and Temporal Structure of Environmentally‐Acquired Caballeronia Symbionts of a Leaffooted Bug
AU  - Alison Ravenscraft
AU  - Suzanne E. Kelly
AU  - David R. Haviland
AU  - Johnathan E. Adamson
AU  - Martha S. Hunter
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/07/01
JO  - Molecular Ecology
DO  - 10.1111/mec.70467
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.70467
AB  - Animals that acquire beneficial microbial symbionts from their environment risk acquiring a sub-optimal partner, or no partner at all. The leaffooted bug Leptoglossus zonatus (Coreidae) acquires its Caballeronia (Burkholderiaceae) bacterial symbiont from the environment, presumably from local soil. Despite large contributions to the bug's fitness, young nymphs must re-acquire the symbiont every generation. To understand how the environmental reservoir of symbiont lineages shapes the insect's biology, we examined the role of space and time in the distribution of Burkholderia sensu lato (including Caballeronia) strains in bugs and soils. We compared samples within trees, within plots, within cities and among different cities in the Southwest USA. We also sampled Caballeronia in L. zonatus within a pomegranate orchard over 2 years. We found high Caballeronia diversity both in soils (32 lineages) and in bugs (29 lineages). Caballeronia lineages were spatially structured among soils and bugs, with fewer shared as distance between samples increased. Where a bug develops, therefore, influences the symbiont strain it acquires, consistent with a process of passive spatial turnover. Also, while some Caballeronia subclade frequencies in bugs approximated frequencies in soils, the Coreiodea-associated subclade of Caballeronia (SBE𝛿) was enriched in bugs. There was only slight turnover of strains in insects over time, suggesting that geographic variation is much more important than temporal change. Ultimately, understanding how symbiont strains of varying local benefit are distributed in space and time will help us predict how geography and seasonality are related to host fitness in environmentally acquired symbioses.
SN  - 0962-1083
SN  - 1365-294X
ER  -