Alarm Pheromone Responses Depend on Genotype, but Not on the Presence of Facultative Endosymbionts in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum

Abstract

Simple Summary Aphids are severe pests on many plants, and understanding their olfactory-guided behaviour is essential for the development of alternative management strategies. The pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, is a good model to understand the influence of different factors on olfactory-guided behaviour, because it encompasses several biotypes, each specialised on different legumes, and harbours different facultative symbionts that influence the insect hosts in many ways. We investigate here whether the aphid genotype and facultative symbionts influence behavioural and antennal responses to the alarm pheromone E-β farnesene in pea aphids. This alarm pheromone is released in case of danger and elicits escape behaviour of conspecifics. For that, we used different pea aphid clones specialised on different host plants and derived lines that harbour or not facultative endosymbiotic bacteria. In behavioural assays, we found that, indeed, aphid genotypes respond differentially to E-β farnesene, whereas the presence of an endosymbiont conferring protection against natural enemies does not modify responses to the alarm pheromone. Electrophysiological recordings from the olfactory organ, the antenna, revealed significant differences in sensitivity between aphid genotypes but not as a function of endosymbionts, corresponding to the behavioural results. Abstract Aphids use an alarm pheromone, E-β farnesene (EBF), to warn conspecifics of potential danger. The antennal sensitivity and behavioural escape responses to EBF can be influenced by different factors. In the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, different biotypes are adapted to different legume species, and within each biotype, different genotypes exist, which can carry or not Hamiltonella defensa, a bacterial symbiont that can confer protection against natural enemies. We investigate here the influence of the aphid genotype and symbiotic status on the escape behaviour using a four-way olfactometer and antennal sensitivity for EBF using electroantennograms (EAGs). Whereas the investigated three genotypes from two biotypes showed significantly different escape and locomotor behaviours in the presence of certain EBF doses, the infection with H. defensa did not significantly modify the escape behaviour and only marginally influenced the locomotor behaviour at high doses of EBF. Dose-response curves of EAG amplitudes after stimulation with EBF differed significantly between aphid genotypes in correlation with behavioural differences, whereas antennal sensitivity to EBF did not change significantly as a function of the symbiotic status. The protective symbiont H. defensa does thus not modify the olfactory sensitivity to the alarm pheromone. How EBF sensitivity is modified between genotypes or biotypes remains to be investigated.