Next Generation Sequencing of Buchnera aphidicola Genomes from 11 Diuraphis noxia Biotypes

Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov) (Hemiptera: Aphididae), also known as the Russian wheat aphid (RWA), encompasses several biotypes exhibiting different levels of virulence against resistant host plants. Buchnera aphidicola is the primary endosymbiont of RWA and is thought to contribute significantly to the virulence of different RWA biotypes. Bacterially encoded genes for the biosynthetic pathways of certain essential amino acids, such as leucine and tryptophan, compensate for the nutritional deficiency in the aphids’ phloem-only diet. There is currently no consensus genome sequence available for the RWA’s endosymbiont, so the objective of this study was to assemble a consensus genome sequence for B. aphidicola of RWA using SOLiD and Roche-454 sequences from a pooled RWA sample. The progressiveMauve alignment software package was used to perform a whole genome alignment of B. aphidicola for four aphid species (Uroleucon ambrosiae, Acyrthosiphon kondoi, Acyrthosiphon pisum and Schizaphis graminum) closely related to D. noxia. Our findings support the current literature, showing conserved gene order among Buchnera strains and different genome sizes due to the number of gene loss events.