To find out what was going on with bean bugs and the Burkholderia bacteria, the researchers added the bacteria to potting soil in the lab, where they flourished. They followed that by adding fenitrothion, which the bugs ate with abandon. Next, they introduced some young bean bugs (nymphs) into the pot which ate soy bean seedlings the researchers added to the mix.
In examining the guts of the bugs, the researchers found the bacteria continued to thrive and the bugs became immune to the effects of the insecticide as a result because the bacteria was eating it before it could harm them. Normally, they say, up to eighty percent of bean bugs will die from such an exposure.
In further tests, the researchers found that bean bugs can harbor up to a hundred million bacteria in their guts, which tends to make them larger than others of the same species.
Fortunately for farmers in Japan, however, it doesn’t appear that many of the bean bugs, or their close cousin chinch bugs, swallow much of the bacteria in the wild though. Tests done found that only eight percent of such bugs had Burkholderia bacteria in their guts in one area, and none in another, thus very few were able to develop an immunity to fenitrothion.
The research team says that this symbiotic relationship between bean bugs and Burkholderia bacteria, providing the bugs with immunity from an insecticide, is the first such example ever found. But they also note that because it’s been found in this case, it’s likely occurring in other relationships as well.
