No evidence for Wolbachia as a nutritional co-obligate endosymbiont in the aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa

Obligate symbiotic associations are present in a wide variety of animals with a nutrient-restricted diet. Aphids (hemiptera: Aphididae) almost-universally host Buchnera aphidicola bacteria in a specialised organs (called bacteriomes). These bacteria supply the aphid with essential nutrients lacking from their diet (i.e. essential amino acids and some B vitamins). Some aphid lineages, such as species from the Lacninae subfamily, have evolved co-obligate associations with secondary endosymbionts, deriving from a loss of biotin-and riboflavin-biosynthetic genes. In this study I re-analyse previously published sequencing data from the banana aphid Pentalonia nigronervosa. I show that the metabolic inference results from De Clerck et al. (2015) are incorrect and possibly arise from the use of inadequate methods. Additionally, I discuss how the biased interpretation of their antibiotic treatment analyses together with the incorrect metabolic inference resulted in the erroneous suggestion \"that a co-obligatory symbiosis between B. aphidicola and Wolbachia occurs in the banana aphid\".