Endosymbiotic Bacteria Composition in Cereal Aphids

Aphids (Homoptera: Aphidadae) contain two main classes of endosymbionts (internal bacterial populations): those that are essential for insect survival (obligate) and those that are not strictly essential for survival but confer ecological advantages to their host under specific biotic and abiotic stresses (facultative). This project uses targeted PCR (16S rRNA gene amplification) and Oxford Nanopore sequencing to examine the presence/absence and relative abundance of endosymbionts within different populations (wild and laboratory maintained) of cereal aphids Sitobion avenae and Rhopalosiphum padi and bean aphid Aphis fabae.