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Kathryn Herr
Kathryn Herr

Public Documents 1
Common fluorescent Pseudomonas in the phyllosphere can influence aphid behavior in di...
Kathryn Herr
Jonah Schieber

Kathryn Herr

and 3 more

March 14, 2025
Bacteria in the phyllosphere, the above ground parts of plants, have complex interactions with both insects and plants. Phyllosphere bacteria can change insect behavior; aphid nymphs can visually detect and avoid feeding on leaves with blue fluorescent emissions from Pseudomonas bacteria. Whether bacterial fluorescence alters alate aphid dispersal, or how Pseudomonas diversity influences aphid behavior, is unknown. We found that Pseudomonas from natural phyllosphere communities were genetically diverse and produced a wide range of fluorescent emissions spectra. Some Pseudomonas caused winged dispersing pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) to avoid plants. Surprisingly, some isolates were attractive and caused 70% of aphids to select plants. Attractive isolates produced green fluorescence in culture, suggesting that attraction could be due to aphid sensory biases. Some isolates had high variability in responses across replicate experiments, suggesting that environmental conditions may influence outcomes. We find that common Pseudomonas on plants can have context-dependent impacts on aphid dispersal.

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