Spiroplasma infection in Harmonia axyridis - Diversity and multiple infection

The heritable endosymbiotic bacterium Spiroplasma is found in the harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis. The proportion of beetles infected with Spiroplasma in different native H. axyridis populations varies from 2% to 49%. We investigated the polymorphism of Spiroplasma strains in samples from individual beetles from Kyoto, Vladivostok, Troitsa Bay, Novosibirsk, and Gorno-Altaisk. To identify Spiroplasma strains, we analyzed nucleotide polymorphisms of the 16S rRNA gene and the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS1). The majority of infected beetles were infected with two or more Spiroplasma strains. We measured Spiroplasma density in beetles with different infection status using quantitative PCR. The abundance of Spiroplasma in samples with a single infection is an order of magnitude lower than in samples with multiple infections. Density dependent biological effects of Spiroplasma are discussed.