Endosymbiotic Microorganisms in Rice Weewil Sitophilus oryzae (L.) Populations

Abstract

Symbiotic bacteria in eukaryotic organisms can show very different effects in the organism in which they are host. The rapid advances in molecular biology and functional genome science studies are of great importance especially in elucidating the relationship between insects harmful to agricultural products and endosymbionts. One of the important pests in agricultural products is Rice weewil Sitophilus oryzae (L.). Within the scope of this study, the presence of endosimbiont microorganisms such as Wolbachia, Rickettsia and Spiroplasma in S. oryzae populations in Adana, Diyarbakır, Konya, Manisa and İzmir provinces were investigated. Rickettsia was detected in five out of six populations and the percentage of contamination was found to be 55.5% (20 out of 36 individuals representing populations). Wolbachia was detected in four of the six populations and the percentage of contamination was found to be 22.2% (8 of 36 individuals representing the populations). Spiroplasma was detected in three out of six populations and the percentage of contamination was 8.3% (3 out of 36 individuals representing populations). The importance of this study is that Spiroplasma has been determined within S. oryzae for the first time.