RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Babic, Isabelle A1 Fischer-Le Saux, Marion A1 Giraud, Eric A1 Boemare, Noël YR 2000 T1 Occurrence of natural dixenic associations between the symbiont Photorhabdus luminescens and bacteria related to Ochrobactrum spp. in tropical entomopathogenic Heterorhabditis spp. (Nematoda, Rhabditida)The EMBL accession numbers for the 16S rDNA sequences reported in this paper are AJ245941 (PR17/sat), AJ249458 (FRG11/sat) and AJ249459 (DO23/sat). JF Microbiology, VO 146 IS 3 SP 709 OP 718 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-146-3-709 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1465-2080, AB Bacteria naturally associated with the symbiont Photorhabdus luminescens subsp. akhurstii were isolated from the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis indica. Bacterial isolates distinct from P. luminescens subsp. akhurstii were obtained from 33% of the samples. Fourteen bacterial isolates, from nematodes collected from three different Caribbean islands, were characterized by conventional phenotypic tests, restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analyses of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes (16S rDNAs). Isolates were grouped into three genotypes, each one being associated with one Caribbean island. Phenotypic characteristics and 16S rDNA analysis showed that the Photorhabdus-associated bacteria were closely related to Ochrobactrum anthropi for the group from Guadeloupe, and to Ochrobactrum intermedium for the two groups from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. No pathogenicity of the Ochrobactrum spp. to the insects Galleria mellonella and Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera) was detected. Since Ochrobactrum spp. are considered as human opportunist pathogens, the mass production of entomopathogenic nematodes for biological control requires strict vigilance., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-146-3-709