Wolbachia infection in native populations of Blattella germanica and Periplaneta americana

Abstract

Cockroaches are significant pests worldwide, being important in medical, veterinary, and public health fields. Control of cockroaches is difficult because they have robust reproductive ability and high adaptability and are resistant to many insecticides. Wolbachia is an endosymbiont bacterium that infects the reproductive organs of approximately 70% of insect species and has become a promising biological agent for controlling insect pests. However, limited data on the presence or strain typing of Wolbachia in cockroaches are available. PCR amplification and sequencing of the wsp and gltA genes were used to study the presence, prevalence and molecular typing of Wolbachia in two main cockroach species, Blattella germanica (German cockroach) and Periplaneta americana (American cockroach), from different geographical locations of Iran. The Wolbachia endosymbiont was found only in 20.6% of German cockroaches while it was absent in American cockroach samples. Blast search and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Wolbachia strain found in the German cockroach belongs to Wolbachia supergroup F. Further studies should investigate the symbiotic role of Wolbachia in cockroaches and determine whether lack of Wolbachia infection may increase this insect’s ability to tolerate or acquire various pathogens. Results of our study provide a foundation for continued work on interactions between cockroaches, bacterial endosymbionts, and pathogens.

A survey of Wolbachia infection in brachyceran flies from Iran

“… 1:Pars Abad, 2:Urmia, 3:Qaemshahr, 4:Sanandaj, 5: Tehran, 6: Kermanshah, 7: Ilam, 8: Alashtar, 9: Dezful, 10: Esfahan, 11: Yazd, 12:Hamidiyeh, 13: Abadan, 14: Kazeron, 15: Kish, 16:Bandar Abbas, 17:Kerman, 18:Zahedan. Reprinted from Choubdar et al 2021 [ 47 ] under a CC BY license, with permission from PLOS publisher, original copyright. ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_Iran.png ).…”

“…In Iran, there are some reports regarding the detection of Wolbachia in limited specific arthropod groups, but, so far, no general surveys of Wolbachia distribution among arthropods have been conducted [42]. For example, infection of Wolbachia has been detected in some species of Phlebotomus [22,[43][44][45][46], in cockroaches [47], and in some species of Diptera-in Culicidae [48,49] and in Coleoptera (Staphilinidae) [50,51]. However, the presence of Wolbachia in different fly species has not yet been studied.…”

Comparing the Bacterial Flora of Insectary and Filed Strains of Supella longipalpa (Blattaria: Ectobiidae) and their Antibiotic Resistant Pattern in Qom Province, Central Iran

“…For example, it has been proved that the presence of Wolbachia bacteria in flies has provided protection against some viral infections ( 19 , 20 ). Some insect gut microbes have the ability to secondary detoxify metabolism, ( 21 ) and protect the host by providing immunity against pathogens ( 22 – 24 ). In addition to the importance of studying pathogenic microorganisms in identifying the potential of cockroaches in their transmission, the identification of symbiotic bacteria (endosymbionts) in order to use new control methods such as paratransgenesis is of great importance ( 10 , 24 – 26 ).…”