Diversity and functional characteristics of culturable bacterial endosymbionts from cassava whitefly biotype Asia II-5, Bemisia tabaci

Venkatesh Kumar; Jeyarani Subramanian; Murugan Marimuthu; Mohankumar Subbarayalu; Venkatachalam Ramasamy; Karthikeyan Gandhi; Manikandan Ariyan

doi:10.1007/s13205-024-03949-0

Diversity and functional characteristics of culturable bacterial endosymbionts from cassava whitefly biotype Asia II-5, Bemisia tabaci

3 Biotech. 2024 Apr;14(4):100. doi: 10.1007/s13205-024-03949-0. Epub 2024 Mar 5.

Authors

Venkatesh Kumar¹, Jeyarani Subramanian¹, Murugan Marimuthu¹, Mohankumar Subbarayalu², Venkatachalam Ramasamy³, Karthikeyan Gandhi⁴, Manikandan Ariyan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural Entomology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003 India.
² Department of Plant Biotechnology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003 India.
³ Department of Genetics and Plant Breeding, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003 India.
⁴ Department of Plant Pathology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641003 India.
⁵ Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

PMID: 38456084
PMCID: PMC10914660 (available on 2025-04-01)
DOI: 10.1007/s13205-024-03949-0

Abstract

Whitefly Bemisia tabaci, a carrier of cassava mosaic disease (CMD), poses a significant threat to cassava crops. Investigating culturable bacteria and their impact on whiteflies is crucial due to their vital role in whitefly fitness and survival. The whitefly biotype associated with cassava and transmitting CMD in India has been identified as Asia II 5 through partial mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequencing. In this study, bacteria associated with adult B. tabaci feeding on cassava were extracted using seven different media. Nutrient Agar (NA), Soyabean Casein Digest Medium (SCDM), Luria Bertani agar (LBA), and Reasoner's 2A agar (R2A) media resulted in 19, 6, 4, and 4 isolates, respectively, producing a total of 33 distinct bacterial isolates. Species identification through 16SrRNA gene sequencing revealed that all isolates belonged to the Bacillota and Pseudomonadota phyla, encompassing 11 genera: Bacillus, Cytobacillus, Exiguobacterium, Terribacillus, Brevibacillus, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus, Brucella, Novosphingobium, Lysobacter, and Pseudomonas. All bacterial isolates were tested for chitinase, protease, siderophore activity, and antibiotic sensitivity. Nine isolates exhibited chitinase activity, 28 showed protease activity, and 23 displayed siderophore activity. Most isolates were sensitive to antibiotics such as Vancomycin, Streptomycin, Erythromycin, Kanamycin, Doxycycline, Tetracycline, and Ciprofloxacin, while they demonstrated resistance to Bacitracin and Colistin. Understanding the culturable bacteria associated with cassava whitefly and their functional significance could contribute to developing effective cassava whitefly and CMD control in agriculture.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-024-03949-0.

Keywords: Antibiotics; Cassava whitefly; Chitinase; Culturable endosymbionts; Protease; Siderophore.

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