Homopteran insects contain bacteria in their cells and tissues known as “secondary symbionts,” which under special environmental circumstances act against their host insects. In this study, both molecular- and culture-based methods were used to characterize the bacteria associated with the whitefly in Jordan. | Research Article Turk J Agric For 34 (2010) 225-234 © TÜBİTAK doi: Isolation and identification of culturable forms of bacteria from the sweet potato whitefly Bemesia tabaci Genn. (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) in Jordan Mazen Ahmad ATEYYAT, Mohamad SHATNAWI, Mohammad AL-MAZRA'AWI Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Al-Balqa’ Applied University, 19117 Al Salt - JORDAN Received: Abstract: Homopteran insects contain bacteria in their cells and tissues known as “secondary symbionts,” which under special environmental circumstances act against their host insects. In this study, both molecular- and culture-based methods were used to characterize the bacteria associated with the whitefly in Jordan. We isolated, cultured, and identified 11 species of bacteria from nymphs (6 species), adults (8 species), and parasitized pupae (2 species) of the whitefly Bemesia tabaci collected from different vegetable crops planted in different localities in Jordan. The identities of the cultured bacteria were evaluated using PCR with sequencing of 16S rRNA gene fragments and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Three gram-negative bacteria were identified as Erwinia persicinus, Pseudomonas plecoglossicida, and Pseudomonas putida. The identified gram-positive bacteria included Brevibacterium casei, Staphylococcus gallinarum, Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus subtilis, Exiquobacterium acetylicum, Exiguobacterium undae, and Micrococcus caseolyticus. Key words: Culturable bacteria, PCR, symbiosis, sequencing, Erwinia persicinus Introduction Members of Hexapoda, the largest class of invertebrates, are involved in several types of symbiosis, primarily with bacteria. All insects live in close association with bacteria; however, bacteria are present on the integument, inhabit the digestive tract, and, in some highly evolved cases, inhabit unique structures within the insect body (Chen et al. 2000; Fukatsu et al. 2000). Many types of bacteria have .
