Insight into feeding behavior and salivary proteome of two pentatomids

The invasive Halyomorpha halys Stål, the brown marmorated stink bug, has widely spread throughout North America and Europe. Its ability to adapt to many host families is probably a boost for world colonization and may be closely related to its feeding activity. Therefore we investigated the feeding behavior on faba bean (Vicia faba L.) of two Hemipteran pests with different levels of polyphagy: brown marmorated stink bug and Nezara viridula (L.), the southern green stink bug. Despite the lack of complete electropenetrography (EPG) waveform libraries published for these pests, we could deduce some functional parameters associated with non-probing, test probes and phloem feeding events. In comparison with N. viridula, H. halys presents a longer penetration phase into phloem sieve elements, which is accompanied by liquid salivation and sap tasting. Complementary proteomics on stink bugs salivary glands was performed by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The role of the identified proteins in plant-insect interactions is discussed. By pairing EPG and analysis of salivary compounds, we suggest an interesting way of investigation on pest adaptation to numerous host plants.