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Presence and Diversity of Streptomyces in Dendroctonus and Sympatric Bark Beetle Galleries Across North America

  • Invertebrate Microbiology
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Abstract

Recent studies have revealed several examples of intimate associations between insects and Actinobacteria, including the Southern Pine Beetle Dendroctonus frontalis and the Spruce Beetle Dendroctonus rufipennis. Here, we surveyed Streptomyces Actinobacteria co-occurring with 10 species of Dendroctonus bark beetles across the United States, using both phylogenetic and community ecology approaches. From these 10 species, and 19 other scolytine beetles that occur in the same trees, we obtained 154 Streptomyces-like isolates and generated 16S sequences from 134 of those. Confirmed 16S sequences of Streptomyces were binned into 36 distinct strains using a threshold of 0.2% sequence divergence. The 16S rDNA phylogeny of all isolates does not correlate with the distribution of strains among beetle species, localities, or parts of the beetles or their galleries. However, we identified three Streptomyces strains occurring repeatedly on Dendroctonus beetles and in their galleries. Identity of these isolates was corroborated using a house-keeping gene sequence (efTu). These strains are not confined to a certain species of beetle, locality, or part of the beetle or their galleries. However, their role as residents in the woodboring insect niche is supported by the repeated association of their 16S and efTu from across the continent, and also having been reported in studies of other subcortical insects.

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Acknowledgments

This project would not be possible without the assistance of many colleagues and field assistants. We thank Brian Strom, Paul Merten, Jason Moan, Jesse Pfammatter, Anthony Cognato, and Andrea Lucky for their assistance with collecting. We thank Rob Dugenske, Joe Moeller, Laura Schwab, and many other members of the Currie lab for their help with laboratory work. The project was funded by the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station, the DOE Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (DOE BER Office of Science DE-FC02-07ER64494), and NSF-Microbial Observatories (MCB-0702025).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Jiri Hulcr

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, 1630 Linden Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Aaron S. Adams & Kenneth Raffa

  3. School of Forestry, Northern Arizona University, 200 E. Huffor Lane, Flagstaff, AZ, 86011, USA

    Richard W. Hofstetter

  4. USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, 200 ET Weaver Blvd., Asheville, NC, 28804, USA

    Kier D. Klepzig

  5. Department of Bacteriology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, 4325 Microbial Sciences Building, 1550 Linden Dr., Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Cameron R. Currie

  6. US Department of Energy (DOE) Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Cameron R. Currie

Authors
  1. Jiri Hulcr
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  2. Aaron S. Adams
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  3. Kenneth Raffa
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  4. Richard W. Hofstetter
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  5. Kier D. Klepzig
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  6. Cameron R. Currie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cameron R. Currie.

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Hulcr, J., Adams, A.S., Raffa, K. et al. Presence and Diversity of Streptomyces in Dendroctonus and Sympatric Bark Beetle Galleries Across North America. Microb Ecol 61, 759–768 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9797-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9797-0

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