شناسایی و بررسی اولیه نقش باکتری‌های Wolbachia و Cardinium در پسیل آسیایی مرکبات Diaphorina citri

Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri, is an important citrus pest and vector of citrus greening disease (HLB). The most common method of controlling this vector is chemical control, which, beside harmful effects on the environment and non-target organisms, has led to the development of resistance in these insects. Therefore, it is necessary to develop effective and low-risk alternative methods. Using methods based on symbionts to control vectors is one of the approaches that has received good attention in recent years. Wolbachia and Cardinium bacteria are among the most prominent reproductive symbionts of insects, which create different phenotypes such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, feminization, and male-killing to increase their transmission rate in the host population. In this study, Wolbachia and Cardinium were detected and identified respectively by using specific primers of ftsz and 16SrRNA genes, in Asian citrus psyllid belonging to the population of Jahrom from Fars province and Roudan from Hormozgan province. To investigate the role of this two bacteria, the compatibility of crosses between males from one population and females from another population and the vice versa were compared to the crosses of males and females from the same population as controls. The hatching rate of eggs in the crosses between Jahrom males with Roudan females and vice versa showed a significant decrease compared to control crosses, and this rate decreased from an average of %88.91± 2.02 in control crosses to an average of %3.72 ± 2.47 in incompatible crosses. These results indicate the similarity of the observations of this study with the cytoplasmic incompatibility phenotype caused by two symbiotic bacteria Wolbachia and Cardinium. The titer of these two bacteria in different tissues and stages in the studied populations showed that the titer of Wolbachia bacteria was higher in the Jahrom population and the titer of Cardinium bacteria was higher in the Roudan population. Also, there was a significant difference in the titer of Wolbachia bacteria compared to Cardinium bacteria in males and females of the two populations. HRM analysis and the presence of different bases in the chromatogram graph showed the presence of different strains of these two bacteria in the studied subjects. According to the decrease in the hatching percentage resulting from the crosses, it seems that after additional investigations and considering various aspects, the use of the cytoplasmic incompatibility phenotype caused by these two bacteria in the control of the Asian citrus psyllid and finally the effective control of the citrus greening disease is possible.