Tabriz University of Medical Sciences BioImpacts 2228-5652 16 1 2026 01 04 Dual-marker amplicon profiling of bacterial and fungal communities associated with the rose aphid Macrosiphum rosae 33821 33821 10.34172/bi.33821 EN Elham Ghalenoei https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8392-2729 Samin Seddigh https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6469-2614 Neda Kheradpir Mojdeh Maleki Hamid Shahbaz Mohammadi Journal Article 10.34172/bi.33821 2026 05 21 2026 08 02 Introduction: Microbiome studies of insect organisms are vital in understanding their physiological function and ecological adaptation, yet there is insufficient information on the fungal component in aphids. Methods: This pilot study provides a preliminary characterization of the bacterial and fungal communities associated with Macrosiphum rosae based on 16S rRNA and ITS amplicon sequencing. Amplicon-based microbial profiling using an Illumina sequencing platform was performed based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and ITS markers obtained from a pooled aphid sample. After quality filtering of the reads, analysis was carried out to classify the microbiomes associated with the aphid samples. Results: The bacterial community was strongly dominated by the obligate symbiont Buchnera, whereas lower-abundance taxa included Serratia, Candidatus Hemipteriphilus, and Pseudomonas. Phylogenetic analyses of sequences showed that there were clear phylogenetic clusters corresponding to known bacterial lineages. On the other hand, fungi exhibited low diversity and comprised mostly Malassezia restricta and M. arunalokei. Conclusion: These results show that the bacterial community is dominated by obligate and facultative symbionts, while the diversity of fungi is relatively low. The results, therefore, support the concept of aphids as holobionts. These findings provide an initial baseline for future replicated investigations of aphid-associated microbial communities.