A very diverse community of actinobacteria, including species belonging to Dietzia, was also reported as gut see more inhabitants of scarabaeid beetles. These actinobacteria were also shown to release enzymes capable of degrading xylan and pectin as substrates [17, 27]. Although these actinobacteria were show to produce a number of active enzymes that act on the food substrate of their hosts, their direct contribution to the digestive process and nutrition of their hosts has not been evaluated yet. A number

of associations among actinobacteria and hemipterans have also been reported, but far less diverse than those we report or those already selleck screening library described in termites and scarabaeids. Coriobacterium glomerans (Coriobacteriaceae) has been reported from the midgut of Pyrrhocoris apterus (Pyrrhocoridae) [28], and Rhodococcus rhodnii (Nocardiaceae) from the reduviids Rhodnius prolixus, Rhodnius ecuadoriensis and Triatoma infestans[29–31], and Rhodococcus triatomae from Triatoma sp. [32]. Although a horizontal transmission route for C. glomerans has been recently demonstrated and molecular analysis of another pyrrhocorid species indicated the occurrence of closely related species of actinobacteria

[19], gut symbionts associated with T. infestans and R. prolixus were the only ones that have been shown to play a role

in host nutrition by producing vitamin B [33, 34]. We do not have sufficient information to argue on the role of the actinobacteria associated with the different species of stinkbugs we have studied in here. Nonetheless, it is striking how diverse the actinoflora associated with the gastric caeca of some of these stinkbugs are as compared to others, including the species of kissing bugs. However, the same pentatomids species surveyed herein were analyzed using universal primers [11], unpub. data and none of the clones retrieved were characterized as actinobacteria. Thus, it is clear that the use of specific primers enhanced the chance to detect this special bacterial group and has, therefore, opened the opportunity to better understand the evolutionary forces which may drive ADAMTS5 the interactions between bacteria and pentatomids. Mutualistic associations with microorganisms generally occur in insects that exploit nutrient-limited food sources, and it is quite common in blood or sap-sucking hemipterans [35, 36]. Blood sucking hemipterans are known to carry symbionts associated with their gut that complement the vitamin B deficiency in their natural diet [33, 34], while sap-sucking hemipterans are commonly associated with symbionts housed within bacteriocytes or bacteriomes [36, 37].