Effects of Wolbachia elimination and B-vitamin supplementation on bed bug development and reproduction

Abstract

Obligate blood feeders, such as Cimex lectularius (common bed bug), have symbiotic associations with nutritional endosymbionts that produce B-vitamins. To quantify the symbiont’s contribution to host fitness in these obligate mutualisms, the symbiont must be eliminated and its absence rigorously confirmed. We developed and validated procedures for complete elimination of Wolbachia (Wb) in bed bugs and quantified development and reproduction in bed bugs with and without Wb and with and without B-vitamins supplementation. Aposymbiotic bed bugs had slower nymphal development, reduced adult survivorship, smaller adult size, fewer eggs per female, and lower hatch rate than bed bugs that harbored Wb. In aposymbiotic bed bugs that were fed B-vitamins-supplemented blood, nymph development time, adult survivorship and hatch rate recovered to control levels, but adult size and egg number only partially recovered. These results underscore the nutritional dependence of bed bugs on their Wb symbiont and suggest that Wb may provide additional nutritional benefits beyond the B-vitamin mix that we investigated.

Characterization of New Defensin Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Expression in Bed Bugs in Response to Bacterial Ingestion and Injection

“…When Wolbachia spp. symbionts are reduced in number or eliminated experimentally, the development of bed bug nymphs was hindered or slowed, and adults were smaller and less fit [ 78 ]. Not surprisingly, insects have evolved mechanisms to protect their symbionts against harmful host immune responses [ 79 ].…”

The prevalence of Wolbachia in multiple cockroach species and its implication for urban insect management

“…Briefly, each sequence dataset (i.e., hcpA , biotins C and H) of cockroach- Wolbachia strains obtained were aligned against those from the F clade Wolbachia infecting bed bugs. We chose to align with the bed bug Wolbachia because it contains a functional biotin gene with an indispensable role in bed bug development (Nikoh et al 2014, Balvín et al 2018, Hickin et al 2022). The cox1 sequences of their bed bug hosts (Balvín et al 2018) were aligned using MAFFT v7.490 software (Nakamura et al 2018).…”

Comparative Transcriptomics of Fat Bodies between Symbiotic and Quasi-Aposymbiotic Adult Females of Blattella germanica with Emphasis on the Metabolic Integration with Its Endosymbiont Blattabacterium and Its Immune System

“…Blattabacterium was also related in these studies to the recycling of stored urates because the elimination of endosymbiont resulted in the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the fat body [60]. Finally, the comparison of symbiont-bearing and aposymbiotic populations can be used to assess the influence of the symbiont population on the metabolic and physiological processes of the host and the mechanisms by which the metabolic integration of host and endosymbiont is established and maintained [51,[61][62][63].…”