Common facultative endosymbionts do not influence sensitivity of cereal aphids to pyrethroids

Abstract

Cereal aphids, including the bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi, and the grain aphid, Sitobion avenae, can transmit viruses that significantly reduce crop yields. To mitigate against yield losses, insecticides are routinely used to manage aphid populations. Aphids can form relationships with endosymbionts that confer fitness benefits or consequences to the aphid. Recent artificial inoculation experiments indicate that endosymbionts could increase aphid susceptibility to insecticides, but this has not been explored using aphid populations naturally infected with endosymbionts. Here, we sampled aphids from an important cereal production region in Lower Saxony, Germany. We characterized the endosymbiont profile of these aphid populations and conducted pyrethroid dose–response assays to test the hypothesis that facultative endosymbionts increase aphid susceptibility to insecticides. We find that the level of insecticide susceptibility is highly variable in S. avenae and we identify populations that are sensitive and tolerant to pyrethroids, including populations collected from the same field. For R. padi, we find evidence for decreased sensitivity to pyrethroids, representing the first report of reduced sensitivity to pyrethroids in R. padi sampled from Central Europe. We detected high endosymbiont infection frequencies in the aphid populations. 84% of aphids carry one facultative endosymbiont and 9% of aphids carry two facultative endosymbionts. We detected associations with Regiella insecticola, Fukatsia symbiotica, and Hamiltonella defensa. However, we do not identify a link between endosymbiont infection and insecticide susceptibility, indicating that other factors may govern the development of insecticide resistance and the need for alternative management strategies.