Bemisia tabaci (G.) is an important pest and a vector of Gemini viruses infecting plants. During the process of feeding B. tabaci excretes honeydew which is rich in nutrients, and an excellent medium for microbial growth. Recent report proved that volatile emitted by the honeydew associated bacteria of aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum Harris was involved in natural enemy calling. Thus understanding the honeydew associated bacteria is of paramount importance from the non-chemical method of insect pest management. In this perspective, very less information is available on bacteria associated with the honeydew excreted by B. tabaci. Therefore, in the present study we have isolated and characterized three culturable bacteria from the honeydew of B. tabaci viz. Bacillus endophyticus, Bacillus niacini and Roseomonas species by employing 16Sr DNA BLASTx analyses which revealed that both B. endophyticus and B. niacini had high similarity (> 99%) to the respective species, while Roseomonas sp. showed only 95% similarity to the existing Roseomonas sp. specificity of honeydew association of Roseomonas sp. was confirmed by developing specific primers as this genus is reported from immunocompromised persons and recently from ticks and mites. The present study also indicated the possible host-plant origin of these honeydew associated bacteria.
Keywords: 16Sr DNA; Bacillus endophyticus; Bacillus niacini; Bemisia tabaci; Roseomonas species.