Elimination of Arsenophonus and decrease in the bacterial symbionts diversity by antibiotic treatment leads to increase in fitness of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci

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Bemisia tabaci is an invasive agricultural pest with more than 24 genetic groups harboring different bacterial endosymbionts categorized into obligatory and facultative endosymbionts. Arsenophonus is one of the facultative endosymbionts prevalent in B. tabaci of Indian sub-continent. Not much is known about the functional role of this endosymbiont in its host. Some studies have revealed its involvement in virus transmission by B. tabaci, but how it effects the biology of B. tabaci is unknown. In this study, tetracycline was used to eliminate Arsenophonus from B. tabaci to study its effects with regard to development and other fitness parameters. Bacteria specific 16S Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to ascertain Arsenophonus absence with differential effects on other secondary endosymbionts present in B. tabaci. Our results revealed that Arsenophonus negative (A−) whiteflies had more fecundity, increased juvenile developmental time, increased nymphal survival and increased adult life span as compared to control (A+) whiteflies. Thus, our results demonstrate that A+ whiteflies have lesser fitness as compared to A− whiteflies. These observations give a new insight about the probable role of Arsenophonus in B. tabaci, that need to be explored further.