Microbial Ecology

, Volume 66, Issue 1, pp 200–210 | Cite as

Nitrogen-Fixing and Uricolytic Bacteria Associated with the Gut of Dendroctonus rhizophagus and Dendroctonus valens (Curculionidae: Scolytinae)

  • Jesús Morales-Jiménez
  • Arturo Vera-Ponce de León
  • Aidé García-Domínguez
  • Esperanza Martínez-Romero
  • Gerardo Zúñiga
  • César Hernández-Rodríguez
Invertebrate Microbiology
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

The bark beetles of the genus Dendroctonus feed on phloem that is a nitrogen-limited source. Nitrogen fixation and nitrogen recycling may compensate or alleviate such a limitation, and beetle-associated bacteria capable of such processes were identified. Raoultella terrigena, a diazotrophic bacteria present in the gut of Dendroctonus rhizophagus and D. valens, exhibited high acetylene reduction activity in vitro with different carbon sources, and its nifH and nifD genes were sequenced. Bacteria able to recycle uric acid were Pseudomonas fluorescens DVL3A that used it as carbon and nitrogen source, Serratia proteomaculans 2A CDF and Rahnella aquatilis 6-DR that used uric acid as sole nitrogen source. Also, this is the first report about the uric acid content in whole eggs, larvae, and adults (male and female) samples of the red turpentine beetle (Dendroctonus valens). Our results suggest that the gut bacteria of these bark beetles could contribute to insect N balance.

Keywords

Uric Acid Nitrogen Fixation Bark Beetle nifH Gene Fungus Garden 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Hugo César Ramírez Saad and Dr. Michael Dunn for the critical reading of the manuscript, and M.S. Marco Antonio Rogel-Hernández for technical assistance with acetylene reduction assays. Grants SIP 20111068 and 20121495, and CONAFOR-CONACyT 69539 supported this work. CHHR and GZB were supported by fellowships of COFAA, EDI and SNI. AVPL thanks PIFI-IPN for the scholarship. Jesús Morales-Jiménez thanks UAM-Xochimilco for postdoctoral fellowship.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jesús Morales-Jiménez
    • 1
    • 2
  • Arturo Vera-Ponce de León
    • 1
  • Aidé García-Domínguez
    • 1
  • Esperanza Martínez-Romero
    • 3
  • Gerardo Zúñiga
    • 4
  • César Hernández-Rodríguez
    • 1
  1. 1.Departamento de Microbiología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias BiológicasInstituto Politécnico NacionalDistrito FederalMexico
  2. 2.Laboratorio de Ecología Molecular, Departamento de Sistemas BiológicosUniversidad Autónoma Metropolitana—XochimilcoDistrito FederalMexico
  3. 3.Centro de Ciencias GenómicasUniversidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoCuernavaca, MorelosMexico
  4. 4.Departamento de Zoología, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias BiológicasInstituto Politécnico NacionalDistrito FederalMexico

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