Diversity and Regional Variation of Endosymbionts in the Green Peach Aphid, Myzus persicae (Sulzer)

The green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, is globally distributed and an important pest of many economically valuable food crops, largely due to its ability transmit plant viruses. Almost all aphids, including M. carry the obligate symbiont Buchnera aphidicola, which provides essential amino acids that aphids cannot obtain from phloem plants themselves. Many also harbor facultative (secondary) endosymbionts, provide benefits under specific ecological conditions. In this study, we screened for secondary endosymbionts in with a particular focus on Australian populations where species growing status as major agricultural pest. We compared 37 persicae other populations, 21 field China 15 clones UK, France, Italy, Greece, USA, Spain, South Korea, Chile, Japan Zimbabwe. No were identified samples outside China, despite covering wide geographic range being collected several host families. detected two (Rickettsia, Spiroplasma) Chinese samples, although diversity appeared lower than recent study. found very high clonal based DNA microsatellite markers comparison Australia. These patterns may indicate higher (and diversity) native when invasive range.