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Symbiosis

A manipulating pair

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 22, page 188 (2024)Cite this article

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Rickettsia bellii is a facultative endosymbiont of the whitefly, which is an important agricultural pest. Endosymbionts of herbivorous insects can affect host physiology, including their development and reproduction. However, whether the endosymbiont affects plants following horizontal transmission is unclear. Shi et al. found that the R. bellii endosymbiont can be transmitted from phloem-feeding whiteflies to tomato plants and that infection with R. bellii enhanced plant resistance to pathogens. The authors showed that following infection, R. bellii spread to undamaged leaves and persist for over a month. Moreover, entry of R. bellii led to changes in the plant’s defence responses: the level of salicylic acid (which is crucial for the induction of plant defence following pathogen infection) in plants infested by R. bellii-containing whiteflies was higher than that in plants infested by whiteflies without endosymbionts; by contrast, the levels of jasmonic acid (which has a role in plant defences against herbivorous insects) was lower. Indeed, transmission of the endosymbiont enhanced the suitability of the plant for the insect. Finally, infestation induced resistance to Verticillium fungus wilt and to two whitefly-vectored viruses, and this effect was further enhanced by R. bellii. In sum, the study provides insights into how insects and their endosymbionts can manipulate plant defences.

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  1. Nature Reviews Microbiology http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/

    Andrea Du Toit

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  1. Andrea Du Toit
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Correspondence to Andrea Du Toit.

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Du Toit, A. A manipulating pair. Nat Rev Microbiol 22, 188 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-024-01021-5

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