Prevalence and evolutionary history of endosymbiont Wolbachia (Rickettsiales: Anaplasmataceae) in parasitoids (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) associated with Bactrocera fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) infesting carambola

Abstract

Wolbachia endosymbiont is a maternally inherited bacteria that infects a wide range of hosts, including parasitoids and their respective hosts. In this study, a total of 171 individuals of braconid endoparasitoids, consisting of Fopius arisanus, F. vandenboschi, Diachasmimorpha longicaudata, Psyttalia sp.1, Psyttalia sp.2, P. fletcheri and P. incisi, and their host tephritid fruit flies of Bactrocera dorsalis, B. papayae and B. carambolae infesting carambola were screened molecularly by the Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene. Interestingly, 21 (24.14%) wsp gene sequences were successfully isolated from 87 braconid samples tested, showing a low infection rate of Wolbachia. However, despite the close ecological contact between parasitoids and their hosts, none of the tephritid individuals were infected by Wolbachia. A comparison of wsp and host mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) sequences found that braconids did not cluster in connection with Wolbachia infection, suggesting that selective sweep has not yet occurred because Wolbachia may have recently infected the braconid populations in Peninsular Malaysia (≈0.1 MYA). Despite of relatively recent infections of Wolbachia, the history of Wolbachia infection into F. arisanus populations of Peninsular Malaysia is complex, involving at least two independent occasions of infection and two secondary losses.

Are ecological communities the seat of endosymbiont horizontal transfer and diversification? A case study with soil arthropod community

“…Supergroup A infections were predominantly found in Hymenoptera (70.5%) whereas Hemipterans had mostly B supergroup infections (73.3%). Such host taxonomic bias of Wolbachia supergroups has been noted previously in Hymenopterans such as parasitoid wasps (Mohammed et al., 2017), ants (Russell et al., 2009), and bees (Gerth et al., 2013), in Hemipterans (Bing et al., 2014; Li et al., 2017), lepidopterans (Duplouy & Hornett, 2018; Ilinsky & Kosterin, 2017), and also in Dipterans (Stahlhut et al., 2010).…”

Further insights in the Tardigrada microbiome: phylogenetic position and prevalence of infection of four new Alphaproteobacteria putative endosymbionts

“…Both Anaplasmataceae and Tenuibacteraceae have been reported thus far in only few phyla within Ecdysozoa, i.e. nematodes, priapulids and arthropods, as well as spiders, insects and ticks (Sironi et al, 1995;Ponnusamy et al, 2014;Ceccarelli et al, 2016;Kroer et al, 2016;Mohammed et al, 2017).…”

Molecular detection and screening of Wolbachia infections in tropical bed bugs Cimex hemipterus (Hemiptera: Cimcidae) from Peninsular Malaysia Populations

“…Through an optical density measurement using a spectrophotometer, it is suggested that DNA can be extracted regardless of the preservation technique (Basnet et al, 2017). Our samples were kept frozen at ─20 °C as per according to Mohammed et al (2017). A similar preservation technique was employed by Simoes et al (2010) and Akhoundi et al (2016).…”