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Frost CL, Mitchell R, Smith JE, Hughes WO. Genotypes and phenotypes in a Wolbachia-ant symbiosis. PeerJ 2024; 12:e17781. [PMID: 39076777 PMCID: PMC11285360 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17781] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/30/2024] [Indexed: 07/31/2024] Open
Abstract
The fitness effects of overt parasites, and host resistance to them, are well documented. Most symbionts, however, are more covert and their interactions with their hosts are less well understood. Wolbachia, an intracellular symbiont of insects, is particularly interesting because it is thought to be unaffected by the host immune response and to have fitness effects mostly focussed on sex ratio manipulation. Here, we use quantitative PCR to investigate whether host genotype affects Wolbachia infection density in the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior, and whether Wolbachia infection density may affect host morphology or caste determination. We found significant differences between host colonies in the density of Wolbachia infections, and also smaller intracolonial differences in infection density between host patrilines. However, the density of Wolbachia infections did not appear to affect the morphology of adult queens or likelihood of ants developing as queens. The results suggest that both host genotype and environment influence the host-Wolbachia relationship, but that Wolbachia infections carry little or no physiological effect on the development of larvae in this system.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rowena Mitchell
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | | | - William O.H. Hughes
- School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom
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2
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Behrmann LV, Meier K, Vollmer J, Chiedu CC, Schiefer A, Hoerauf A, Pfarr K. In vitro extracellular replication of Wolbachia endobacteria. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1405287. [PMID: 39091298 PMCID: PMC11293327 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1405287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2024] [Accepted: 07/02/2024] [Indexed: 08/04/2024] Open
Abstract
Obligate intracellular endobacteria of the genus Wolbachia are widespread in arthropods and several filarial nematodes. Control programs for vector-borne diseases (dengue, Zika, malaria) and anti-filarial therapy with antibiotics are based on this important endosymbiont. Investigating Wolbachia, however, is impeded by the need for host cells. In this study, the requirements for Wolbachia wAlbB growth in a host cell-free in vitro culture system were characterized via qPCRs. A cell lysate fraction from Aedes albopictus C6/36 insect cells containing cell membranes and medium with fetal bovine serum were identified as requisite for cell-free replication of Wolbachia. Supplementation with the membrane fraction of insect cell lysate increased extracellular Wolbachia replication by 4.2-fold. Replication rates in the insect cell-free culture were lower compared to Wolbachia grown inside insect cells. However, the endobacteria were able to replicate for up to 12 days and to infect uninfected C6/36 cells. Cell-free Wolbachia treated with the lipid II biosynthesis inhibitor fosfomycin had an enlarged phenotype, seen previously for intracellular Wolbachia in C6/36 cells, indicating that the bacteria were unable to divide. In conclusion, we have developed a cell-free culture system in which Wolbachia replicate for up to 12 days, providing an in vitro tool to elucidate the biology of these endobacteria, e.g., cell division by using compounds that may not enter the C6/36 cells. A better understanding of Wolbachia biology, and in particular host-symbiont interactions, is key to the use of Wolbachia in vector control programs and to future drug development against filarial diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Vanessa Behrmann
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Kirstin Meier
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Jennifer Vollmer
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Chukwuebuka Chibuzo Chiedu
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Andrea Schiefer
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Achim Hoerauf
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
| | - Kenneth Pfarr
- Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Bonn-Cologne, Bonn, Germany
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3
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Pierro R, Moussa A, Mori N, Marcone C, Quaglino F, Romanazzi G. Bois noir management in vineyard: a review on effective and promising control strategies. FRONTIERS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2024; 15:1364241. [PMID: 38601314 PMCID: PMC11004249 DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1364241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/01/2024] [Accepted: 03/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
Among grapevine yellows, Bois noir (BN), associated with 'Candidatus Phytoplasma solani', represents the biggest threat in the main wine-growing areas worldwide, causing significant losses in berry quality and yields. BN epidemiology involves multiple plant hosts and several insect vectors, making considerably complex the development of effective management strategies. Since application of insecticides on the grapevine canopy is not effective to manage vectors, BN management includes an integrated approach based on treatments to the canopy to make the plant more resistant to the pathogen and/or inhibit the vector feeding, and actions on reservoir plants to reduce possibilities that the vector reaches the grapevine and transmit the phytoplasma. Innovative sustainable strategies developed in the last twenty years to improve the BN management are reviewed and discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Pierro
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
| | - Abdelhameed Moussa
- Pests and Plant Protection Department, Agricultural & Biological Research Institute, National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt
| | - Nicola Mori
- Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Carmine Marcone
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Salerno, Italy
| | - Fabio Quaglino
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences – Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Gianfranco Romanazzi
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy
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4
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Valdivia C, Newton JA, von Beeren C, O'Donnell S, Kronauer DJC, Russell JA, Łukasik P. Microbial symbionts are shared between ants and their associated beetles. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:3466-3483. [PMID: 37968789 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/17/2023]
Abstract
The transmission of microbial symbionts across animal species could strongly affect their biology and evolution, but our understanding of transmission patterns and dynamics is limited. Army ants (Formicidae: Dorylinae) and their hundreds of closely associated insect guest species (myrmecophiles) can provide unique insights into interspecific microbial symbiont sharing. Here, we compared the microbiota of workers and larvae of the army ant Eciton burchellii with those of 13 myrmecophile beetle species using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. We found that the previously characterized specialized bacterial symbionts of army ant workers were largely absent from ant larvae and myrmecophiles, whose microbial communities were usually dominated by Rickettsia, Wolbachia, Rickettsiella and/or Weissella. Strikingly, different species of myrmecophiles and ant larvae often shared identical 16S rRNA genotypes of these common bacteria. Protein-coding gene sequences confirmed the close relationship of Weissella strains colonizing army ant larvae, some workers and several myrmecophile species. Unexpectedly, these strains were also similar to strains infecting dissimilar animals inhabiting very different habitats: trout and whales. Together, our data show that closely interacting species can share much of their microbiota, and some versatile microbial species can inhabit and possibly transmit across a diverse range of hosts and environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Catalina Valdivia
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
| | - Justin A Newton
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Christoph von Beeren
- Department of Biology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Sean O'Donnell
- Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Daniel J C Kronauer
- Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, USA
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, New York, New York, USA
| | - Jacob A Russell
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Piotr Łukasik
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
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5
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Mee L, Barribeau SM. Influence of social lifestyles on host-microbe symbioses in the bees. Ecol Evol 2023; 13:e10679. [PMID: 37928198 PMCID: PMC10620586 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.10679] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2023] [Revised: 10/16/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 11/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Microbiomes are increasingly recognised as critical for the health of an organism. In eusocial insect societies, frequent social interactions allow for high-fidelity transmission of microbes across generations, leading to closer host-microbe coevolution. The microbial communities of bees with other social lifestyles are less studied, and few comparisons have been made between taxa that vary in social structure. To address this gap, we leveraged a cloud-computing resource and publicly available transcriptomic data to conduct a survey of microbial diversity in bee samples from a variety of social lifestyles and taxa. We consistently recover the core microbes of well-studied corbiculate bees, supporting this method's ability to accurately characterise microbial communities. We find that the bacterial communities of bees are influenced by host location, phylogeny and social lifestyle, although no clear effect was found for fungal or viral microbial communities. Bee genera with more complex societies tend to harbour more diverse microbes, with Wolbachia detected more commonly in solitary tribes. We present a description of the microbiota of Euglossine bees and find that they do not share the "corbiculate core" microbiome. Notably, we find that bacteria with known anti-pathogenic properties are present across social bee genera, suggesting that symbioses that enhance host immunity are important with higher sociality. Our approach provides an inexpensive means of exploring microbiomes of a given taxa and identifying avenues for further research. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relationships between bees and their associated microbial communities, highlighting the importance of considering microbiome dynamics in investigations of bee health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Mee
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, Department of Evolution, Ecology and BehaviourUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
| | - Seth M. Barribeau
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, Department of Evolution, Ecology and BehaviourUniversity of LiverpoolLiverpoolUK
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6
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Degueldre F, Aron S. Long-term sperm storage in eusocial Hymenoptera. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2023; 98:567-583. [PMID: 36397639 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Revised: 10/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In internally fertilizing species, sperm transfer is not always immediately followed by egg fertilization, and female sperm storage (FSS) may occur. FSS is a phenomenon in which females store sperm in a specialized organ for periods lasting from a few hours to several years, depending on the species. Eusocial hymenopterans (ants, social bees, and social wasps) hold the record for FSS duration. In these species, mating takes place during a single nuptial flight that occurs early in adult life for both sexes; they never mate again. Males die quickly after copulation but survive posthumously as sperm stored in their mates' spermathecae. Reproductive females, also known as queens, have a much longer life expectancy, up to 20 years in some species. Here, we review what is currently known about the molecular adaptations underlying the remarkable FSS capacities in eusocial hymenopterans. Because sperm quality is crucial to the reproductive success of both sexes, we also discuss the mechanisms involved in sperm storage and preservation in the male seminal vesicles prior to ejaculation. Finally, we propose future research directions that should broaden our understanding of this unique biological phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Félicien Degueldre
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
| | - Serge Aron
- Evolutionary Biology and Ecology, CP 160/12, Université Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
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Mancini E, Sabatelli S, Hu Y, Frasca S, Di Giulio A, Audisio P, Brown CD, Russell JA, Trizzino M. Uncovering Active Bacterial Symbionts in Three Species of Pollen-feeding Beetles (Nitidulidae: Meligethinae). MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2023; 85:335-339. [PMID: 35059821 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-022-01964-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Microbial symbionts enable many phytophagous insects to specialize on plant-based diets through a range of metabolic services. Pollen comprises one-plant tissue consumed by such herbivores. While rich in lipids and proteins, its nutrient content is often imbalanced and difficult-to-access due to a digestibly recalcitrant cell wall. Pollen quality can be further degraded by harmful allelochemicals. To identify microbes that may aid in palynivory, we performed cDNA-based 16S rRNA metabarcoding on three related pollen beetles (Nitidulidae: Meligethinae) exhibiting different dietary breadths: Brassicogethes aeneus, B. matronalis, and Meligethes atratus. Nine bacterial symbionts (i.e., 97% OTUs) exhibited high metabolic activity during active feeding. Subsequent PCR surveys revealed varying prevalence of those from three Rickettsialles genera-Lariskella, Rickettsia, and Wolbachia-within beetle populations. Our findings lay the groundwork for future studies on the influence of phylogeny and diet on palynivorous insect microbiomes, and roles of symbionts in the use of challenging diets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emiliano Mancini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy.
| | - Simone Sabatelli
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Yi Hu
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, 3245 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Process and Resource Ecology and Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
| | - Sara Frasca
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Andrea Di Giulio
- Department of Science, Roma Tre University, Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146, Rome, Italy
| | - Paolo Audisio
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies 'Charles Darwin', Sapienza University of Rome, Viale dell'Università 32, 00185, Rome, Italy
| | - Christopher D Brown
- Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania, 538B 415, Curie Blvd, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA
| | - Jacob A Russell
- Department of Biology, Drexel University, 3245 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA
| | - Marco Trizzino
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, 233 S 10TH street, Philadelphia, PA, 19107, USA
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Zhukova M, Sapountzis P, Schiøtt M, Boomsma JJ. Phylogenomic analysis and metabolic role reconstruction of mutualistic Rhizobiales hindgut symbionts of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2022; 98:6652133. [PMID: 35906195 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiac084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2022] [Revised: 07/03/2022] [Accepted: 07/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Rhizobiales are well-known plant-root nitrogen-fixing symbionts, but the functions of insect-associated Rhizobiales are poorly understood. We obtained genomes of three strains associated with Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants and show that, in spite of being extracellular gut symbionts, they lost all pathways for essential amino acid biosynthesis, making them fully dependent on their hosts. Comparison with 54 Rhizobiales genomes showed that all insect-associated Rhizobiales lost the ability to fix nitrogen and that the Acromyrmex symbionts had exceptionally also lost the urease genes. However, the Acromyrmex strains share biosynthesis pathways for riboflavin vitamin, queuosine and a wide range of antioxidant enzymes likely to be beneficial for the ant fungus-farming symbiosis. We infer that the Rhizobiales symbionts catabolize excess of fungus-garden-derived arginine to urea, supplementing complementary Mollicutes symbionts that turn arginine into ammonia and infer that these combined symbiont activities stabilize the fungus-farming mutualism. Similar to the Mollicutes symbionts, the Rhizobiales species have fully functional CRISPR/Cas and R-M phage defenses, suggesting that these symbionts are important enough for the ant hosts to have precluded the evolution of metabolically cheaper defenseless strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariya Zhukova
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Panagiotis Sapountzis
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Morten Schiøtt
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, Universitetsparken 15, University of Copenhagen, DK-2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
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Nascimento da Silva J, Calixto Conceição C, Cristina Ramos de Brito G, Costa Santos D, Martins da Silva R, Arcanjo A, Henrique Ferreira Sorgine M, de Oliveira PL, Andrade Moreira L, da Silva Vaz I, Logullo C. Wolbachia pipientis modulates metabolism and immunity during Aedes fluviatilis oogenesis. INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 146:103776. [PMID: 35526745 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2022.103776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 04/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Wolbachia pipientis is a maternally transmitted bacterium that mostly colonizes arthropods, including the mosquito Aedes fluviatilis, potentially affecting different aspects of host physiology. This intracellular bacterium prefers gonadal tissue cells, interfering with the reproductive cycle of insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and nematodes. Wolbachia's ability to modulate the host's reproduction is related to its success in prevalence and frequency. Infecting oocytes is essential for vertical propagation, ensuring its presence in the germline. The mosquito Ae. fluviatilis is a natural host for this bacterium and therefore represents an excellent experimental model in the effort to understand host-symbiont interactions and the mutual metabolic regulation. The aim of this study was to comparatively describe metabolic changes in naturally Wolbachia-infected and uninfected ovaries of Ae. fluviatilis during the vitellogenic period of oogenesis, thus increasing the knowledge about Wolbachia parasitic/symbiotic mechanisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jhenifer Nascimento da Silva
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Christiano Calixto Conceição
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Gisely Cristina Ramos de Brito
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Daniel Costa Santos
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Renato Martins da Silva
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Angélica Arcanjo
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Marcos Henrique Ferreira Sorgine
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Pedro L de Oliveira
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Luciano Andrade Moreira
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Grupo Mosquitos Vetores: Endossimbiontes e Interação Patógeno Vetor, Instituto René Rachou - Fiocruz, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
| | - Itabajara da Silva Vaz
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Centro de Biotecnologia and Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
| | - Carlos Logullo
- Laboratório de Bioquímica de Artrópodes Hematófagos, Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Entomologia Molecular, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
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Zheng Z, Zhao M, Zhang Z, Hu X, Xu Y, Wei C, He H. Lactic Acid Bacteria Are Prevalent in the Infrabuccal Pockets and Crops of Ants That Prefer Aphid Honeydew. Front Microbiol 2022; 12:785016. [PMID: 35126329 PMCID: PMC8814368 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.785016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/09/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Ants are evolutionarily successful species and occupy diverse trophic and habitat niches on the earth. To fulfill dietary requirements, ants have established commensalism with both sap-feeding insects and bacteria. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to characterize the bacterial composition and structure of the digestive tracts in three species of Formica ants and Lasius niger (Linnaeus)—species that predominantly feed on honeydew secreted by aphids. We found that bacterial communities displayed species- and colony-level signatures, and that bacterial communities in the infrabuccal pockets and crops were different from those in the midguts and hindguts. Lactobacillus and Wolbachia were dominant in the infrabuccal pockets and crops of workers, whereas Wolbachia was dominant in the midguts, hindguts and brood (larvae, pupae and cocoons). To learn more about the dominant Lactobacillus in ants, we assessed its prevalence in a wide range of aphid-tending ants using diagnostic PCR. We found that Lactobacillus was more prevalent in Formicinae than in Myrmicinae species. We also isolated four strains of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis, Lactobacillus lindneri, Weissella cibaria and Fructobacillus sp.) from the infrabuccal pockets and crops of aphid-tending ants using a culture-dependent method. Two predominant lactic acid bacterial isolates, Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis (La2) and Weissella cibaria (La3), exhibited abilities in catabolizing sugars (sucrose, trehalose, melezitose and raffinose) known to be constituents of hemipteran honeydew. These findings contribute to further understanding the association between ants, aphids and bacteria, and provide additional information on the function of lactic acid bacteria in ants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhou Zheng
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Mengqin Zhao
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Zhijun Zhang
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Xin Hu
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Yang Xu
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
| | - Cong Wei
- Key Laboratory of Plant Protection Resources and Pest Management, College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
- *Correspondence: Cong Wei,
| | - Hong He
- Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration for Control of Forest Biological Disasters in Western China, College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
- Hong He,
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Worsley SF, Innocent TM, Holmes NA, Al-Bassam MM, Schiøtt M, Wilkinson B, Murrell JC, Boomsma JJ, Yu DW, Hutchings MI. Competition-based screening helps to secure the evolutionary stability of a defensive microbiome. BMC Biol 2021; 19:205. [PMID: 34526023 PMCID: PMC8444595 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01142-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2021] [Accepted: 09/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The cuticular microbiomes of Acromyrmex leaf-cutting ants pose a conundrum in microbiome biology because they are freely colonisable, and yet the prevalence of the vertically transmitted bacteria Pseudonocardia, which contributes to the control of Escovopsis fungus garden disease, is never compromised by the secondary acquisition of other bacterial strains. Game theory suggests that competition-based screening can allow the selective recruitment of antibiotic-producing bacteria from the environment, by providing abundant resources to foment interference competition between bacterial species and by using Pseudonocardia to bias the outcome of competition in favour of antibiotic producers. RESULTS Here, we use RNA-stable isotope probing (RNA-SIP) to confirm that Acromyrmex ants can maintain a range of microbial symbionts on their cuticle by supplying public resources. We then used RNA sequencing, bioassays, and competition experiments to show that vertically transmitted Pseudonocardia strains produce antibacterials that differentially reduce the growth rates of other microbes, ultimately biassing the bacterial competition to allow the selective establishment of secondary antibiotic-producing strains while excluding non-antibiotic-producing strains that would parasitise the symbiosis. CONCLUSIONS Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that competition-based screening is a plausible mechanism for maintaining the integrity of the co-adapted mutualism between the leaf-cutting ant farming symbiosis and its defensive microbiome. Our results have broader implications for explaining the stability of other complex symbioses involving horizontal acquisition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah F Worsley
- School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Tabitha M Innocent
- Centre for Social Evolution, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Neil A Holmes
- School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UH, UK
| | - Mahmoud M Al-Bassam
- School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Morten Schiøtt
- Centre for Social Evolution, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Barrie Wilkinson
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UH, UK
| | - J Colin Murrell
- School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Section for Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
| | - Douglas W Yu
- School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK.
- State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China.
- Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China.
| | - Matthew I Hutchings
- School of Biological Sciences, Norwich Research Park, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK.
- Department of Molecular Microbiology, John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UH, UK.
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12
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Ün Ç, Schultner E, Manzano-Marín A, Flórez LV, Seifert B, Heinze J, Oettler J. Cytoplasmic incompatibility between Old and New World populations of a tramp ant. Evolution 2021; 75:1775-1791. [PMID: 34047357 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14261] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2020] [Revised: 04/14/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Reproductive manipulation by endosymbiotic Wolbachia can cause unequal inheritance, allowing the manipulator to spread and potentially impacting evolutionary dynamics in infected hosts. Tramp and invasive species are excellent models to study the dynamics of host-Wolbachia associations because introduced populations often diverge in their microbiomes after colonizing new habitats, resulting in infection polymorphisms between native and introduced populations. Ants are the most abundant group of insects on earth, and numerous ant species are classified as highly invasive. However, little is known about the role of Wolbachia in these ecologically dominant insects. Here, we provide the first description of reproductive manipulation by Wolbachia in an ant. We show that Old and New World populations of the cosmotropic tramp ant Cardiocondyla obscurior harbor distinct Wolbachia strains, and that only the Old World strain manipulates host reproduction by causing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in hybrid crosses. By uncovering a symbiont-induced mechanism of reproductive isolation in a social insect, our study provides a novel perspective on the biology of tramp ants and introduces a new system for studying the evolutionary consequences of CI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Çiğdem Ün
- Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93053, Germany
| | - Eva Schultner
- Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93053, Germany
| | - Alejandro Manzano-Marín
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, University of Vienna, Vienna, 1090, Austria
| | - Laura V Flórez
- Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution, Evolutionary Ecology Department, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, 55128, Germany
| | - Bernhard Seifert
- Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz, Görlitz, 02826, Germany
| | - Jürgen Heinze
- Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93053, Germany
| | - Jan Oettler
- Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, 93053, Germany
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Bacterial Composition and Diversity of the Digestive Tract of Odontomachus monticola Emery and Ectomomyrmex javanus Mayr. INSECTS 2021; 12:insects12020176. [PMID: 33671250 PMCID: PMC7922086 DOI: 10.3390/insects12020176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2020] [Revised: 01/31/2021] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Simple Summary Bacteria are considered to be one of the compelling participants in ant dietary differentiation. The digestive tract of ants is characterized by a developed crop, an elaborate proventriculus, and an infrabuccal pocket, which is a special filtrating structure in the mouthparts, adapting to their special trophallaxis behavior. Ponerine ants are true predators and a primitive ant group; notably, their gut bacterial communities get less attention than herbivorous ants. In this study, we investigated the composition and diversity of bacterial communities in the digestive tract and the infrabuccal pockets of two widely distributed ponerine species (Odontomachus monticola Emery and Ectomomyrmex javanus Mayr) in northwestern China using high-throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The results revealed that, not only do the gut bacterial communities display significant interspecies differences, but they also possess apparent intercolony characteristics. Within each colony, the bacterial communities were highly similar between each gut section (crops, midguts, and hindguts) of workers, but significantly different from their infrabuccal pockets, which were similar to bacterial communities in larvae of O. monticola. The relationship of the bacterial communities among the infrabuccal pockets, gut sections and larvae provide meaningful information to understand the social life and feeding behavior of ants. Abstract Ponerine ants are generalist predators feeding on a variety of small arthropods, annelids, and isopods; however, knowledge of their bacterial communities is rather limited. This study investigated the bacterial composition and diversity in the digestive tract (different gut sections and the infrabuccal pockets (IBPs)) of two ponerine ant species (Odontomachus monticola Emery and Ectomomyrmex javanus Mayr) distributed in northwestern China using high-throughput sequencing. We found that several dominant bacteria that exist in other predatory ants were also detected in these two ponerine ant species, including Wolbachia, Mesoplasma, and Spiroplasma. Bacterial communities of these two ant species were differed significantly from each other, and significant differences were also observed across their colonies, showing distinctive inter-colony characteristics. Moreover, bacterial communities between the gut sections (crops, midguts, and hindguts) of workers were highly similar within colony, but they were clearly different from those in IBPs. Further, bacterial communities in the larvae of O. monticola were similar to those in the IBPs of workers, but significantly different from those in gut sections. We presume that the bacterial composition and diversity in ponerine ants are related to their social behavior and feeding habits, and bacterial communities in the IBPs may play a potential role in their social life.
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Scolari F, Sandionigi A, Carlassara M, Bruno A, Casiraghi M, Bonizzoni M. Exploring Changes in the Microbiota of Aedes albopictus: Comparison Among Breeding Site Water, Larvae, and Adults. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:624170. [PMID: 33584626 PMCID: PMC7876458 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.624170] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The mosquito body hosts highly diverse microbes, which influence different physiological traits of both larvae and adults. The composition of adult mosquito microbiota is tightly linked to that of larvae, which are aquatic and feed on organic detritus, algae and prokaryotic microorganisms present in their breeding sites. Unraveling the ecological features of larval habitats that shape the structure of bacterial communities and their interactions with the mosquito host is still a poorly investigated topic in the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, a highly invasive species that is vector of numerous arboviruses, including Dengue, Chikungunya, and Zika viruses. In this study, we investigated the composition of the bacterial community present in the water from a natural larval breeding site in which we separately reared wild-collected larvae and hatched eggs of the Foshan reference laboratory strain. Using sequence analysis of bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons, we comparatively analyzed the microbiota of the larvae and that of adult mosquitoes, deriving information about the relative impact of the breeding site water on shaping mosquito microbiota. We observed a higher bacterial diversity in breeding site water than in larvae or adults, irrespective of the origin of the sample. Moreover, larvae displayed a significantly different and most diversified microbial community than newly emerged adults, which appeared to be dominated by Proteobacteria. The microbiota of breeding site water significantly increased its diversity over time, suggesting the presence of a dynamic interaction among bacterial communities, breeding sites and mosquito hosts. The analysis of Wolbachia prevalence in adults from Foshan and five additional strains with different geographic origins confirmed the described pattern of dual wAlbA and wAlbB strain infection. However, differences in Wolbachia prevalence were detected, with one strain from La Reunion Island showing up to 18% uninfected individuals. These findings contribute in further understanding the dynamic interactions between the ecology of larval habitats and the structure of host microbiota, as well as providing additional information relative to the patterns of Wolbachia infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Scolari
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Anna Sandionigi
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Martina Carlassara
- Department of Biology and Biotechnology, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Antonia Bruno
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Maurizio Casiraghi
- Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
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15
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Ding H, Yeo H, Puniamoorthy N. Wolbachia infection in wild mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae): implications for transmission modes and host-endosymbiont associations in Singapore. Parasit Vectors 2020; 13:612. [PMID: 33298138 PMCID: PMC7724734 DOI: 10.1186/s13071-020-04466-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Wolbachia are intracellular bacterial endosymbionts found in most insect lineages. In mosquitoes, the influence of these endosymbionts on host reproduction and arboviral transmission has spurred numerous studies aimed at using Wolbachia infection as a vector control technique. However, there are several knowledge gaps in the literature and little is known about natural Wolbachia infection across species, their transmission modes, or associations between various Wolbachia lineages and their hosts. This study aims to address these gaps by exploring mosquito-Wolbachia associations and their evolutionary implications. Methods We conducted tissue-specific polymerase chain reaction screening for Wolbachia infection in the leg, gut and reproductive tissues of wild mosquitoes from Singapore using the Wolbachia surface protein gene (wsp) molecular marker. Mosquito-Wolbachia associations were explored using three methods—tanglegram, distance-based, and event-based methods—and by inferred instances of vertical transmission and host shifts. Results Adult mosquitoes (271 specimens) representing 14 genera and 40 species were screened for Wolbachia. Overall, 21 species (51.2%) were found positive for Wolbachia, including five in the genus Aedes and five in the genus Culex. To our knowledge, Wolbachia infections have not been previously reported in seven of these 21 species: Aedes nr. fumidus, Aedes annandalei, Uranotaenia obscura, Uranotaenia trilineata, Verrallina butleri, Verrallina sp. and Zeugnomyia gracilis. Wolbachia were predominantly detected in the reproductive tissues, which is an indication of vertical transmission. However, Wolbachia infection rates varied widely within a mosquito host species. There was no clear signal of cophylogeny between the mosquito hosts and the 12 putative Wolbachia strains observed in this study. Host shift events were also observed. Conclusions Our results suggest that the mosquito-Wolbachia relationship is complex and that combinations of transmission modes and multiple evolutionary events likely explain the observed distribution of Wolbachia diversity across mosquito hosts. These findings have implications for a better understanding of the diversity and ecology of Wolbachia and for their utility as biocontrol agents.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huicong Ding
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore
| | - Huiqing Yeo
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore
| | - Nalini Puniamoorthy
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, 16 Science Drive 4, Singapore, 117558, Singapore.
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16
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Sanaei E, Charlat S, Engelstädter J. Wolbachia
host shifts: routes, mechanisms, constraints and evolutionary consequences. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 96:433-453. [DOI: 10.1111/brv.12663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Revised: 10/18/2020] [Accepted: 10/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ehsan Sanaei
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Saint Lucia Brisbane QLD 4067 Australia
| | - Sylvain Charlat
- Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive Université de Lyon, Université Lyon 1, CNRS, UMR 5558 43 boulevard du 11 novembre 1918 Villeurbanne F‐69622 France
| | - Jan Engelstädter
- School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Saint Lucia Brisbane QLD 4067 Australia
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17
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Bi J, Wang Y. The effect of the endosymbiont Wolbachia on the behavior of insect hosts. INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 27:846-858. [PMID: 31631529 PMCID: PMC7496987 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2019] [Revised: 09/25/2019] [Accepted: 09/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
As one of the most successful intracellular symbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia can infect many arthropods and nematodes. Wolbachia infection usually affects the reproduction of their hosts to promote their own proliferation and transmission. Currently, most of the studies focus on the mechanisms of Wolbachia interactions with host reproduction. However, in addition to distribution in the reproductive tissues, Wolbachia also infect various somatic tissues of their hosts, including the brain. This raises the potential that Wolbachia may influence some somatic processes, such as behaviors in their hosts. So far, information about the effects of Wolbachia infection on host behavior is still very limited. The present review presents the current literature on different aspects of the influence of Wolbachia on various behaviors, including sleep, learning and memory, mating, feeding and aggression in their insect hosts. We then highlight ongoing scientific efforts in the field that need addressing to advance this field, which can have significant implications for further developing Wolbachia as environmentally friendly biocontrol agents to control insect-borne diseases and agricultural pests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Bi
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative BiologyCentral China Normal UniversityWuhanChina
| | - Yu‐Feng Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative BiologyCentral China Normal UniversityWuhanChina
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18
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Zhu YX, Song ZR, Song YL, Zhao DS, Hong XY. The microbiota in spider mite feces potentially reflects intestinal bacterial communities in the host. INSECT SCIENCE 2020; 27:859-868. [PMID: 31411007 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.12716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2019] [Revised: 07/30/2019] [Accepted: 08/10/2019] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Microorganisms provide many physiological functions to herbivorous hosts. Spider mites (genus Tetranychus) are important agricultural pests throughout the world; however, the composition of the spider mite microbial community, especially gut microbiome, remains unclear. Here, we investigated the bacterial community in five spider mite species and their associated feces by deep sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. The composition of the bacterial community was significantly different among the five prevalent spider mite species, and some bacterial symbionts showed host-species specificity. Moreover, the abundance of the bacterial community in spider mite feces was significantly higher than that in the corresponding spider mite samples. However, Flavobacterium was detected in all samples, and represent a "core microbiome". Remarkably, the maternally inherited endosymbiont Wolbachia was detected in both spider mite and feces. Overall, these results offer insight into the complex community of symbionts in spider mites, and give a new direction for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Xi Zhu
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Zhang-Rong Song
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Yue-Ling Song
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Dian-Shu Zhao
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiao-Yue Hong
- Department of Entomology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China
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19
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Liu XC, Li YR, Dong B, Li ZX. The Intruding Wolbachia Strain from the Moth Fails to Establish Itself in the Fruit Fly Due to Immune and Exclusion Reactions. Curr Microbiol 2020; 77:2441-2448. [PMID: 32506239 DOI: 10.1007/s00284-020-02067-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2019] [Accepted: 05/30/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
Wolbachia is capable of regulating host reproduction, and thus of great significance in preventing the spread of insect-borne diseases and controlling pest insects. The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is an excellent model insect for understanding Wolbachia-host interactions. Here we artificially transferred the wCcep strain from the rice moth Corcyra cephalonica into D. melanogaster by microinjection. Crossing experiments indicated that wCcep could induce a high level of CI in the phylogenetically distant host D. melanogaster and imposed no negative fitness costs on host development and fecundity. Based on quantitative analysis, the titres of wCcep and the native wMel strain were negatively correlated, and wCcep could only be transmitted in the novel host for several generations (G0 to G4) after transinfection. Transcriptome sequencing indicated that the invading wCcep strain induced a significant immune- and stress-related response from the host. An association analysis between the expression of immune genes attacin-D/edin and the titre of Wolbachia by linear regression displayed a negative correlation between them. Our study suggest that the intrusion of wCcep elicited a robust immune response from the host and incurred a competitive exclusion from the native Wolbachia strain, which resulted in the failure of its establishment in D. melanogaster.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin-Chao Liu
- Department of Entomology and Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, MOA, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China
| | - Yue-Ru Li
- Department of Entomology and Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, MOA, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China.,Department of Microbiology & Immunology, McGill University, 3773 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2B4, Canada
| | - Bei Dong
- Department of Entomology and Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, MOA, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China.,Jinan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, No.717, Mingfa Road, Changqing District, Jinan, 250316, Shandong, China
| | - Zheng-Xi Li
- Department of Entomology and Key Laboratory of Pest Monitoring and Green Management, MOA, College of Plant Protection, China Agricultural University, 2 Yuanmingyuan West Road, Beijing, 100193, China.
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Ramalho MDO, Martins C, Morini MSC, Bueno OC. What Can the Bacterial Community of Atta sexdens (Linnaeus, 1758) Tell Us about the Habitats in Which This Ant Species Evolves? INSECTS 2020; 11:E332. [PMID: 32481532 PMCID: PMC7349130 DOI: 10.3390/insects11060332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 05/19/2020] [Accepted: 05/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Studies of bacterial communities can reveal the evolutionary significance of symbiotic interactions between hosts and their associated bacteria, as well as identify environmental factors that may influence host biology. Atta sexdens is an ant species native to Brazil that can act as an agricultural pest due to its intense behavior of cutting plants. Despite being extensively studied, certain aspects of the general biology of this species remain unclear, such as the evolutionary implications of the symbiotic relationships it forms with bacteria. Using high-throughput amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA genes, we compared for the first time the bacterial community of A. sexdens (whole ant workers) populations according to the habitat (natural versus agricultural) and geographical location. Our results revealed that the bacterial community associated with A. sexdens is mainly influenced by the geographical location, and secondarily by the differences in habitat. Also, the bacterial community associated with citrus differed significantly from the other communities due to the presence of Tsukamurella. In conclusion, our study suggests that environmental shifts may influence the bacterial diversity found in A. sexdens.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuela de Oliveira Ramalho
- Centro de Estudos de Insetos Sociais—CEIS, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro 13506-900, SP, Brazil;
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 129 Garden Ave, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
| | - Cintia Martins
- Campus Ministro Reis Velloso, Universidade Federal do Piauí, Av. São Sebastião, 2819, Parnaíba, Piauí 64202-020, Brazil;
| | - Maria Santina Castro Morini
- Núcleo de Ciências Ambientais, Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes, Av. Dr. Cândido Xavier de Almeida e Souza, 200, Centro Cívico, Mogi das Cruzes 08780-911, SP, Brazil;
| | - Odair Correa Bueno
- Centro de Estudos de Insetos Sociais—CEIS, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, UNESP, Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro 13506-900, SP, Brazil;
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Singh R, Linksvayer TA. Wolbachia-infected ant colonies have increased reproductive investment and an accelerated life cycle. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb220079. [PMID: 32253286 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.220079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2019] [Accepted: 03/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Wolbachia is a widespread genus of maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria that often manipulates the reproductive strategy and life history of its hosts to favor its own transmission. Wolbachia-mediated phenotypic effects are well characterized in solitary hosts, but effects in social hosts are unclear. The invasive pharaoh ant, Monomorium pharaonis, shows natural variation in Wolbachia infection between colonies and can be readily bred under laboratory conditions. We previously showed that Wolbachia-infected pharaoh ant colonies had more queen-biased sex ratios than uninfected colonies, which is expected to favor the spread of maternally transmitted Wolbachia Here, we further characterize the effects of Wolbachia on the short- and longer-term reproductive and life history traits of pharaoh ant colonies. First, we characterized the reproductive differences between naturally infected and uninfected colonies at three discrete time points and found that infected colonies had higher reproductive investment (i.e. infected colonies produced more new queens), particularly when existing colony queens were 3 months old. Next, we compared the long-term growth and reproduction dynamics of infected and uninfected colonies across their whole life cycle. Infected colonies had increased colony-level growth and early colony reproduction, resulting in a shorter colony life cycle, when compared with uninfected colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rohini Singh
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Kaczmarczyk-Ziemba A, Zagaja M, Wagner GK, Pietrykowska-Tudruj E, Staniec B. First Insight into Microbiome Profiles of Myrmecophilous Beetles and Their Host, Red Wood Ant Formica polyctena (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)-A Case Study. INSECTS 2020; 11:E134. [PMID: 32092972 PMCID: PMC7073670 DOI: 10.3390/insects11020134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2019] [Revised: 02/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/23/2023]
Abstract
Formica polyctena belongs to the red wood ant species group. Its nests provide a stable, food rich, and temperature and humidity controlled environment, utilized by a wide range of species, called myrmecophiles. Here, we used the high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene on the Illumina platform for identification of the microbiome profiles of six selected myrmecophilous beetles (Dendrophilus pygmaeus, Leptacinus formicetorum, Monotoma angusticollis, Myrmechixenus subterraneus, Ptenidium formicetorum and Thiasophila angulata) and their host F. polyctena. Analyzed bacterial communities consisted of a total of 23 phyla, among which Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were the most abundant. Two known endosymbionts-Wolbachia and Rickettsia-were found in the analyzed microbiome profiles and Wolbachia was dominant in bacterial communities associated with F. polyctena, M. subterraneus, L. formicetorum and P. formicetorum (>90% of reads). In turn, M. angusticollis was co-infected with both Wolbachia and Rickettsia, while in the microbiome of T. angulata, the dominance of Rickettsia has been observed. The relationships among the microbiome profiles were complex, and no relative abundance pattern common to all myrmecophilous beetles tested was observed. However, some subtle, species-specific patterns have been observed for bacterial communities associated with D. pygmaeus, M. angusticollis, and T. angulata.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agnieszka Kaczmarczyk-Ziemba
- Department of Genetics and Biosystematics, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdansk, Poland
| | - Mirosław Zagaja
- Isobolographic Analysis Laboratory, Institute of Rural Health, Jaczewskiego 2, 20-090 Lublin, Poland;
| | - Grzegorz K. Wagner
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland; (G.K.W.); (E.P.-T.); (B.S.)
| | - Ewa Pietrykowska-Tudruj
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland; (G.K.W.); (E.P.-T.); (B.S.)
| | - Bernard Staniec
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Akademicka 19, 20-033 Lublin, Poland; (G.K.W.); (E.P.-T.); (B.S.)
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The Jekyll and Hyde Symbiont: Could Wolbachia Be a Nutritional Mutualist? J Bacteriol 2020; 202:JB.00589-19. [PMID: 31659008 DOI: 10.1128/jb.00589-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
The most common intracellular symbiont on the planet-Wolbachia pipientis-is infamous largely for the reproductive manipulations induced in its host. However, more recent evidence suggests that this bacterium may also serve as a nutritional mutualist in certain host backgrounds and for certain metabolites. We performed a large-scale analysis of conserved gene content across all sequenced Wolbachia genomes to infer potential nutrients made by these symbionts. We review and critically evaluate the prior research supporting a beneficial role for Wolbachia and suggest future experiments to test hypotheses of metabolic provisioning.
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24
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Kaczmarczyk-Ziemba A, Zagaja M, Wagner GK, Pietrykowska-Tudruj E, Staniec B. The microbiota of the Lasius fuliginosus – Pella laticollis myrmecophilous interaction. THE EUROPEAN ZOOLOGICAL JOURNAL 2020. [DOI: 10.1080/24750263.2020.1844322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- A. Kaczmarczyk-Ziemba
- Department of Genetics and Biosystematics, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
| | - M. Zagaja
- Isobolographic Analysis Laboratory, Institute of Rural Health, Lublin, Poland
| | - G. K. Wagner
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland
| | - E. Pietrykowska-Tudruj
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland
| | - B. Staniec
- Department of Zoology and Nature Protection, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, Lublin, Poland
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25
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Hellemans S, Kaczmarek N, Marynowska M, Calusinska M, Roisin Y, Fournier D. Bacteriome-associated Wolbachia of the parthenogenetic termite Cavitermes tuberosus. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2019; 95:5247714. [PMID: 30551145 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiy235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2018] [Accepted: 12/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia has deeply shaped the ecology and evolution of many arthropods, and interactions between the two partners are a continuum ranging from parasitism to mutualism. Non-dispersing queens of the termite Cavitermes tuberosus are parthenogenetically produced through gamete duplication, a mode of ploidy restoration generally induced by Wolbachia. These queens display a bacteriome-like structure in the anterior part of the mesenteron. Our study explores the possibility of a nutritional mutualistic, rather than a parasitic, association between Wolbachia and C. tuberosus. We found a unique strain (wCtub), nested in the supergroup F, in 28 nests collected in French Guiana, the island of Trinidad and the state of Paraíba, Brazil (over 3500 km). wCtub infects individuals regardless of caste, sex or reproductive (sexual versus parthenogenetic) origin. qPCR assays reveal that Wolbachia densities are higher in the bacteriome-like structure and in the surrounding gut compared to other somatic tissues. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing reveals that Wolbachia represents over 97% of bacterial reads present in the bacteriome structure. BLAST analyses of 16S rRNA, bioA (a gene of the biosynthetic pathway of B vitamins) and five multilocus sequence typing genes indicated that wCtub shares 99% identity with wCle, an obligate nutritional mutualist of the bedbug Cimex lectularius.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Hellemans
- Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP 160/12, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Nicolas Kaczmarek
- Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP 160/12, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Martyna Marynowska
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Magdalena Calusinska
- Environmental Research and Innovation Department, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, L-4422 Belvaux, Luxembourg
| | - Yves Roisin
- Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP 160/12, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Denis Fournier
- Evolutionary Biology & Ecology, Université libre de Bruxelles, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, CP 160/12, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
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26
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Segers FHID, Kaltenpoth M, Foitzik S. Abdominal microbial communities in ants depend on colony membership rather than caste and are linked to colony productivity. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:13450-13467. [PMID: 31871657 PMCID: PMC6912891 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5801] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2019] [Revised: 09/30/2019] [Accepted: 10/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Gut bacteria aid their host in digestion and pathogen defense, and bacterial communities that differ in diversity or composition may vary in their ability to do so. Typically, the gut microbiomes of animals living in social groups converge as members share a nest environment and frequently interact. Social insect colonies, however, consist of individuals that differ in age, physiology, and behavior, traits that could affect gut communities or that expose the host to different bacteria, potentially leading to variation in the gut microbiome within colonies. Here we asked whether bacterial communities in the abdomen of Temnothorax nylanderi ants, composed largely of the gut microbiome, differ between different reproductive and behavioral castes. We compared microbiomes of queens, newly eclosed workers, brood carers, and foragers by high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing. Additionally, we sampled individuals from the same colonies twice, in the field and after 2 months of laboratory housing. To disentangle the effects of laboratory environment and season on microbial communities, additional colonies were collected at the same location after 2 months. There were no large differences between ant castes, although queens harbored more diverse microbial communities than workers. Instead, we found effects of colony, environment, and season on the abdominal microbiome. Interestingly, colonies with more diverse communities had produced more brood. Moreover, the queens' microbiome composition was linked to egg production. Although long-term coevolution between social insects and gut bacteria has been repeatedly evidenced, our study is the first to find associations between abdominal microbiome characteristics and colony productivity in social insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francisca H. I. D. Segers
- LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (LOEWE‐TBG)FrankfurtGermany
- Behavioural Ecology and Social EvolutionInstitute of Organismic and Molecular EvolutionJohannes Gutenberg UniversityMainzGermany
- Present address:
Applied Bioinformatics GroupInstitute of Cell Biology & NeuroscienceGoethe UniversityFrankfurtGermany
| | - Martin Kaltenpoth
- Evolutionary EcologyInstitute of Organismic and Molecular EvolutionJohannes Gutenberg UniversityMainzGermany
| | - Susanne Foitzik
- Evolutionary EcologyInstitute of Organismic and Molecular EvolutionJohannes Gutenberg UniversityMainzGermany
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27
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Diouf M, Miambi E, Mora P, Frechault S, Robert A, Rouland-Lefèvre C, Hervé V. Variations in the relative abundance of Wolbachia in the gut of Nasutitermes arborum across life stages and castes. FEMS Microbiol Lett 2019; 365:4904115. [PMID: 29579215 DOI: 10.1093/femsle/fny046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2018] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
There are multiple forms of interactions between termites and bacteria. In addition to their gut microbiota, which has been intensively studied, termites host intracellular symbionts such as Wolbachia. These distinct symbioses have been so far approached independently and mostly in adult termites. We addressed the dynamics of Wolbachia and the microbiota of the eggs and gut for various life stages and castes of the wood-feeding termite, Nasutitermes arborum, using deep-sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Wolbachia was dominant in eggs as expected. Unexpectedly, it persisted in the gut of nearly all stages and castes, indicating a wide somatic distribution in termites. Wolbachia-related sequences clustered into few operational taxonomic units, but these were within the same genotype, acquired maternally. Wolbachia was largely dominant in DNA extracts from the guts of larvae and pre-soldiers (59.1%-99.1% of reads) where gut-resident lineages were less represented and less diverse. The reverse was true for the adult castes. This is the first study reporting the age-dependency of the relative abundance of Wolbachia in the termite gut and its negative correlation with the diversity of the microbiota. The possible mechanisms underlying this negative interaction are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michel Diouf
- Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, Université Paris Est Créteil, Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). 61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil Cedex, France
| | - Edouard Miambi
- Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, Université Paris Est Créteil, Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). 61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil Cedex, France
| | - Philippe Mora
- Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, Université Paris Est Créteil, Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). 61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil Cedex, France
| | - Sophie Frechault
- Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, Université Paris Est Créteil, Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). 61 Avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil Cedex, France
| | - Alain Robert
- Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). Centre IRD France Nord, 32 Avenue Henri Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France
| | - Corinne Rouland-Lefèvre
- Département ECOEVO, Institut d'Ecologie et des Sciences de l'Environnement de Paris (IEES, Paris). Centre IRD France Nord, 32 Avenue Henri Varagnat, 93143 Bondy, France
| | - Vincent Hervé
- Research Group Insect Gut Microbiology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Karl-von-Frisch-Strasse 10, 35043 Marburg, Germany
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28
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Treanor D, Hughes WOH. Limited female dispersal predicts the incidence of Wolbachia across ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1163-1170. [PMID: 31334893 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2019] [Accepted: 07/01/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia is perhaps the greatest panzootic in the history of life on Earth, yet remarkably little is known regarding the factors that determine its incidence across species. One possibility is that Wolbachia more easily invades species with structured populations, due to the increased strength of genetic drift and higher initial frequency of infection. This should enable strains that induce mating incompatibilities to more easily cross the threshold prevalence above which they spread to either fixation or a stable equilibrium infection prevalence. Here, we provide empirical support for this hypothesis by analysing the relationship between female dispersal (as a proxy for population structure) and the incidence of Wolbachia across 250 species of ants. We show that species in which the dispersal of reproductive females is limited are significantly more likely to be infected with Wolbachia than species whose reproductive ecology is consistent with significant dispersal of females, and that this relationship remains after controlling for host phylogeny. We suggest that structured host populations, in this case resulting from limited female dispersal, may be an important feature determining how easily Wolbachia becomes successfully established in a novel host, and thus its occurrence across a wide diversity of invertebrate hosts.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Treanor
- School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK
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29
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Teseo S, van Zweden JS, Pontieri L, Kooij PW, Sørensen SJ, Wenseleers T, Poulsen M, Boomsma JJ, Sapountzis P. The scent of symbiosis: gut bacteria may affect social interactions in leaf-cutting ants. Anim Behav 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2018.12.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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30
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Tolley SJA, Nonacs P, Sapountzis P. Wolbachia Horizontal Transmission Events in Ants: What Do We Know and What Can We Learn? Front Microbiol 2019; 10:296. [PMID: 30894837 PMCID: PMC6414450 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2018] [Accepted: 02/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
While strict vertical transmission insures the durability of intracellular symbioses, phylogenetic incongruences between hosts and endosymbionts suggest horizontal transmission must also occur. These horizontal acquisitions can have important implications for the biology of the host. Wolbachia is one of the most ecologically successful prokaryotes in arthropods, infecting an estimated 50–70% of all insect species. Much of this success is likely due to the fact that, in arthropods, Wolbachia is notorious for manipulating host reproduction to favor transmission through the female germline. However, its natural potential for horizontal transmission remains poorly understood. Here we evaluate the fundamental prerequisites for successful horizontal transfer, including necessary environmental conditions, genetic potential of bacterial strains, and means of mediating transfers. Furthermore, we revisit the relatedness of Wolbachia strains infecting the Panamanian leaf-cutting ant, Acromyrmex echinatior, and its inquiline social parasite, Acromyrmex insinuator, and compare our results to a study published more than 15 years ago by Van Borm et al. (2003). The results of this pilot study prompt us to reevaluate previous notions that obligate social parasitism reliably facilitates horizontal transfer and suggest that not all Wolbachia strains associated with ants have the same genetic potential for horizontal transmission.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah J A Tolley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
| | - Peter Nonacs
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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31
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Sapountzis P, Nash DR, Schiøtt M, Boomsma JJ. The evolution of abdominal microbiomes in fungus-growing ants. Mol Ecol 2018; 28:879-899. [PMID: 30411820 PMCID: PMC6446810 DOI: 10.1111/mec.14931] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2016] [Revised: 02/08/2018] [Accepted: 10/03/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The attine ants are a monophyletic lineage that switched to fungus farming ca. 55-60 MYA. They have become a model for the study of complex symbioses after additional fungal and bacterial symbionts were discovered, but their abdominal endosymbiotic bacteria remain largely unknown. Here, we present a comparative microbiome analysis of endosymbiotic bacteria spanning the entire phylogenetic tree. We show that, across 17 representative sympatric species from eight genera sampled in Panama, abdominal microbiomes are dominated by Mollicutes, α- and γ-Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria. Bacterial abundances increase from basal to crown branches in the phylogeny reflecting a shift towards putative specialized and abundant abdominal microbiota after the ants domesticated gongylidia-bearing cultivars, but before the origin of industrial-scale farming based on leaf-cutting herbivory. This transition coincided with the ancestral single colonization event of Central/North America ca. 20 MYA, documented in a recent phylogenomic study showing that almost the entire crown group of the higher attine ants, including the leaf-cutting ants, evolved there and not in South America. Several bacterial species are located in gut tissues or abdominal organs of the evolutionarily derived, but not the basal attine ants. The composition of abdominal microbiomes appears to be affected by the presence/absence of defensive antibiotic-producing actinobacterial biofilms on the worker ants' cuticle, but the significance of this association remains unclear. The patterns of diversity, abundance and sensitivity of the abdominal microbiomes that we obtained explore novel territory in the comparative analysis of attine fungus farming symbioses and raise new questions for further in-depth research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Sapountzis
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - David R Nash
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Morten Schiøtt
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
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32
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Sapountzis P, Zhukova M, Shik JZ, Schiott M, Boomsma JJ. Reconstructing the functions of endosymbiotic Mollicutes in fungus-growing ants. eLife 2018; 7:e39209. [PMID: 30454555 PMCID: PMC6245734 DOI: 10.7554/elife.39209] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mollicutes, a widespread class of bacteria associated with animals and plants, were recently identified as abundant abdominal endosymbionts in healthy workers of attine fungus-farming leaf-cutting ants. We obtained draft genomes of the two most common strains harbored by Panamanian fungus-growing ants. Reconstructions of their functional significance showed that they are independently acquired symbionts, most likely to decompose excess arginine consistent with the farmed fungal cultivars providing this nitrogen-rich amino-acid in variable quantities. Across the attine lineages, the relative abundances of the two Mollicutes strains are associated with the substrate types that foraging workers offer to fungus gardens. One of the symbionts is specific to the leaf-cutting ants and has special genomic machinery to catabolize citrate/glucose into acetate, which appears to deliver direct metabolic energy to the ant workers. Unlike other Mollicutes associated with insect hosts, both attine ant strains have complete phage-defense systems, underlining that they are actively maintained as mutualistic symbionts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panagiotis Sapountzis
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Mariya Zhukova
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Jonathan Z Shik
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Morten Schiott
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenCopenhagenDenmark
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33
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Dittmer J, Bouchon D. Feminizing Wolbachia influence microbiota composition in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare. Sci Rep 2018; 8:6998. [PMID: 29725059 PMCID: PMC5934373 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25450-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia are widespread heritable endosymbionts of arthropods notorious for their profound effects on host fitness as well as for providing protection against viruses and eukaryotic parasites, indicating that they can interact with other microorganisms sharing the same host environment. Using the terrestrial isopod crustacean Armadillidium vulgare, its highly diverse microbiota (>200 bacterial genera) and its three feminizing Wolbachia strains (wVulC, wVulM, wVulP) as a model system, the present study demonstrates that Wolbachia can even influence the composition of a diverse bacterial community under both laboratory and natural conditions. While host origin is the major determinant of the taxonomic composition of the microbiota in A. vulgare, Wolbachia infection affected both the presence and, more importantly, the abundance of many bacterial taxa within each host population, possibly due to competitive interactions. Moreover, different Wolbachia strains had different impacts on microbiota composition. As such, infection with wVulC affected a higher number of taxa than infection with wVulM, possibly due to intrinsic differences in virulence and titer between these two strains. In conclusion, this study shows that heritable endosymbionts such as Wolbachia can act as biotic factors shaping the microbiota of arthropods, with as yet unknown consequences on host fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jessica Dittmer
- Université de Poitiers, UMR CNRS 7267, Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions, équipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose, 5 rue Albert Turpin, 86073, Poitiers, France
- Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Via Ferrata 9, 27100, Pavia, Italy
| | - Didier Bouchon
- Université de Poitiers, UMR CNRS 7267, Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions, équipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose, 5 rue Albert Turpin, 86073, Poitiers, France.
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34
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Ramalho MO, Vieira AS, Pereira MC, Moreau CS, Bueno OC. Transovarian Transmission of Blochmannia and Wolbachia Endosymbionts in the Neotropical Weaver Ant Camponotus textor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Curr Microbiol 2018; 75:866-873. [PMID: 29468305 DOI: 10.1007/s00284-018-1459-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2017] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Camponotus is a hyper-diverse ant genus that is associated with the obligate endosymbiont Blochmannia, and often also with Wolbachia, but morphological studies on the location of these bacteria in the queen's ovaries during oogenesis remain limited. In the present study, we used the Neotropical weaver ant Camponotus textor to characterize the ovary using histology (HE) techniques, and to document the location of Blochmannia and Wolbachia during oogenesis through fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). This is the first morphological report of these two bacteria in the same host with polytrophic meroistic ovaries and reveals that Blochmannia is found inside late-stage oocytes and Wolbachia is associated with the nuclei of the nurse cells. Our results provide insights into the developmental sequence of when these bacteria reach the egg, with Blochmannia establishing itself in the egg first, and Wolbachia only reaching the egg shortly before completing egg development. Studies such as this provide understanding about the mechanisms and timing of the establishment of these endosymbionts in the host.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuela Oliveira Ramalho
- Departament of Biology e Center for Studies on Social Insects, Biosciense Institute, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil. .,Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Science and Education, Integrative Research Center, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA.
| | - Alexsandro Santana Vieira
- Departament of Biology e Center for Studies on Social Insects, Biosciense Institute, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil
| | - Mayara Cristina Pereira
- Departament of Biology e Center for Studies on Social Insects, Biosciense Institute, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil
| | - Corrie Saux Moreau
- Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Science and Education, Integrative Research Center, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA
| | - Odair Correa Bueno
- Departament of Biology e Center for Studies on Social Insects, Biosciense Institute, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil
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35
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Zhukova M, Sapountzis P, Schiøtt M, Boomsma JJ. Diversity and Transmission of Gut Bacteria in Atta and Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutting Ants during Development. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1942. [PMID: 29067008 PMCID: PMC5641371 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01942] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2017] [Accepted: 09/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The social Hymenoptera have distinct larval and adult stages separated by metamorphosis, which implies striking remodeling of external and internal body structures during the pupal stage. This imposes challenges to gut symbionts as existing cultures are lost and may or may not need to be replaced. To elucidate the extent to which metamorphosis interrupts associations between bacteria and hosts, we analyzed changes in gut microbiota during development and traced the transmission routes of dominant symbionts from the egg to adult stage in the leaf-cutting ants Acromyrmex echinatior and Atta cephalotes, which are both important functional herbivores in the New World tropics. Bacterial density remained similar across the developmental stages of Acromyrmex, but Atta brood had very low bacterial prevalences suggesting that bacterial gut symbionts are not actively maintained. We found that Wolbachia was the absolute dominant bacterial species across developmental stages in Acromyrmex and we confirmed that Atta lacks Wolbachia also in the immature stages, and had mostly Mollicutes bacteria in the adult worker guts. Wolbachia in Acromyrmex appeared to be transovarially transmitted similar to transmission in solitary insects. In contrast, Mollicutes were socially transmitted from old workers to newly emerged callows. We found that larval and pupal guts of both ant species contained Pseudomonas and Enterobacter bacteria that are also found in fungus gardens, but hardly or not in adult workers, suggesting they are beneficial only for larval growth and development. Our results reveal that transmission pathways for bacterial symbionts may be very different both between developmental stages and between sister genera and that identifying the mechanisms of bacterial acquisition and loss will be important to clarify their putative mutualistic functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariya Zhukova
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Panagiotis Sapountzis
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Morten Schiøtt
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jacobus J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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36
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Fromont C, Riegler M, Cook JM. Relative Abundance and Strain Diversity in the Bacterial Endosymbiont Community of a Sap-Feeding Insect Across Its Native and Introduced Geographic Range. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2017; 74:722-734. [PMID: 28386769 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-017-0971-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2016] [Accepted: 03/20/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Most insects are associated with bacterial symbionts. The bacterial diversity and community composition within hosts may play an important role in shaping insect population biology, ecology and evolution. We focussed on the bacterial microbiome of the Australian fig homotomid Mycopsylla fici (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), which can cause defoliation of its only host tree, Ficus macrophylla. This sap-feeding insect is native to mainland Australia and Lord Howe Island (LHI) but also occurs where its host has been planted, notably in New Zealand. By using a high-throughput 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing approach, we compared the bacterial diversity and community composition in individual adult males of four host populations, Sydney, Brisbane, LHI and Auckland. We also compared males, females and nymphs of the Sydney population. The microbiome of M. fici was simple and consisted mostly of the following three maternally inherited endosymbiont species: the primary endosymbiont Carsonella, a secondary (S-) endosymbiont and Wolbachia. However, the relative abundance of their sequence reads varied between host populations, except for similarities between Sydney and Auckland. In addition, insects from Sydney and Auckland had identical bacterial strains supporting the hypothesis that Sydney is the source population for Auckland. In contrast, mainland and LHI populations harboured the same S-endosymbiont, co-diverged Carsonella but different Wolbachia strains. Besides detecting endosymbiont-specific patterns of either co-evolution or horizontal acquisition, our study highlights that relative abundance of maternally inherited endosymbionts should also be taken into account when studying bacterial communities across host populations, as variations in bacterial density may impact host biology and ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Fromont
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
| | - Markus Riegler
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
| | - James M Cook
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia
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Pontieri L, Schmidt AM, Singh R, Pedersen JS, Linksvayer TA. Artificial selection on ant female caste ratio uncovers a link between female-biased sex ratios and infection by Wolbachia endosymbionts. J Evol Biol 2016; 30:225-234. [PMID: 27859964 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2016] [Revised: 10/27/2016] [Accepted: 11/08/2016] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Social insect sex and caste ratios are well-studied targets of evolutionary conflicts, but the heritable factors affecting these traits remain unknown. To elucidate these factors, we carried out a short-term artificial selection study on female caste ratio in the ant Monomorium pharaonis. Across three generations of bidirectional selection, we observed no response for caste ratio, but sex ratios rapidly became more female-biased in the two replicate high selection lines and less female-biased in the two replicate low selection lines. We hypothesized that this rapid divergence for sex ratio was caused by changes in the frequency of infection by the heritable bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia, because the initial breeding stock varied for Wolbachia infection, and Wolbachia is known to cause female-biased sex ratios in other insects. Consistent with this hypothesis, the proportions of Wolbachia-infected colonies in the selection lines changed rapidly, mirroring the sex ratio changes. Moreover, the estimated effect of Wolbachia on sex ratio (~13% female bias) was similar in colonies before and during artificial selection, indicating that this Wolbachia effect is likely independent of the effects of artificial selection on other heritable factors. Our study provides evidence for the first case of endosymbiont sex ratio manipulation in a social insect.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Pontieri
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Department of Biology, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - A M Schmidt
- Department of Biology, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - R Singh
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - J S Pedersen
- Department of Biology, Centre for Social Evolution, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - T A Linksvayer
- Department of Biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Berasategui A, Axelsson K, Nordlander G, Schmidt A, Borg-Karlson AK, Gershenzon J, Terenius O, Kaltenpoth M. The gut microbiota of the pine weevil is similar across Europe and resembles that of other conifer-feeding beetles. Mol Ecol 2016; 25:4014-31. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.13702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2015] [Revised: 03/23/2016] [Accepted: 04/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Aileen Berasategui
- Department of Biochemistry; Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; Hans Knöll Straβe, 07745 Jena Germany
- Insect Symbiosis Research Group; Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; Hans Knöll Straβe, 07745 Jena Germany
| | - Karolin Axelsson
- Department of Organic Chemistry; KTH (Royal Institute of Technology); AlbaNova University Center, 106 91 Stockholm Sweden
| | - Göran Nordlander
- Department of Ecology; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Lägerhyddsvägen 1, 751 21 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Axel Schmidt
- Department of Biochemistry; Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; Hans Knöll Straβe, 07745 Jena Germany
| | - Anna-Karin Borg-Karlson
- Department of Organic Chemistry; KTH (Royal Institute of Technology); AlbaNova University Center, 106 91 Stockholm Sweden
| | - Jonathan Gershenzon
- Department of Biochemistry; Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; Hans Knöll Straβe, 07745 Jena Germany
| | - Olle Terenius
- Department of Ecology; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences; Lägerhyddsvägen 1, 751 21 Uppsala Sweden
| | - Martin Kaltenpoth
- Insect Symbiosis Research Group; Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology; Hans Knöll Straβe, 07745 Jena Germany
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39
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Pietri JE, DeBruhl H, Sullivan W. The rich somatic life of Wolbachia. Microbiologyopen 2016; 5:923-936. [PMID: 27461737 PMCID: PMC5221451 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 120] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2016] [Revised: 05/24/2016] [Accepted: 05/28/2016] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia is an intracellular endosymbiont infecting most arthropod and some filarial nematode species that is vertically transmitted through the maternal lineage. Due to this primary mechanism of transmission, most studies have focused on Wolbachia interactions with the host germline. However, over the last decade many studies have emerged highlighting the prominence of Wolbachia in somatic tissues, implicating somatic tissue tropism as an important aspect of the life history of this endosymbiont. Here, we review our current understanding of Wolbachia-host interactions at both the cellular and organismal level, with a focus on Wolbachia in somatic tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose E Pietri
- Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA
| | - Heather DeBruhl
- Biological Sciences Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California, USA
| | - William Sullivan
- Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA
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40
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McFrederick QS, Rehan SM. Characterization of pollen and bacterial community composition in brood provisions of a small carpenter bee. Mol Ecol 2016; 25:2302-11. [PMID: 26945527 DOI: 10.1111/mec.13608] [Citation(s) in RCA: 75] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2015] [Revised: 02/26/2016] [Accepted: 03/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Many insects obtain gut microbes from their diet, but how a mother's foraging patterns influence the microbes found in her offspring's food remains an open question. To address this gap, we studied a bee that forages for pollen from multiple species of plants and may therefore acquire diverse bacteria from different plants. We tested the hypothesis that pollen diversity correlates with bacterial diversity by simultaneously characterizing these two communities in bee brood provisions for the first time. We used deep sequencing of the plant RBCL gene and the bacterial 16S rRNA gene to characterize pollen and bacterial diversity. We then tested for associations between pollen and bacterial species richness and community composition, as well as co-occurrence of specific bacteria and pollen types. We found that both pollen and bacterial communities were extremely diverse, indicating that mother bees visit a wide variety of flowers for pollen and nectar and subsequently bring a diversity of microbes back into their nests. Pollen and bacterial species richness and community composition, however, were not correlated. Certain pollen types significantly co-occurred with the most proportionally abundant bacteria, indicating that the plants these pollen types came from may serve as reservoirs for these bacteria. Even so, the overall diversity of these communities appears to mask these associations at a broader scale. Further study of these pollen and bacteria associations will be important for understanding the complicated relationship between bacteria and wild bees.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quinn S McFrederick
- Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, 900 University Avenue, Riverside, CA, 92521, USA
| | - Sandra M Rehan
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, 46 College Road, Durham, NH, 03824, USA
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Acromyrmex Leaf-Cutting Ants Have Simple Gut Microbiota with Nitrogen-Fixing Potential. Appl Environ Microbiol 2015; 81:5527-37. [PMID: 26048932 DOI: 10.1128/aem.00961-15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2015] [Accepted: 05/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Ants and termites have independently evolved obligate fungus-farming mutualisms, but their gardening procedures are fundamentally different, as the termites predigest their plant substrate whereas the ants deposit it directly on the fungus garden. Fungus-growing termites retained diverse gut microbiota, but bacterial gut communities in fungus-growing leaf-cutting ants have not been investigated, so it is unknown whether and how they are specialized on an exclusively fungal diet. Here we characterized the gut bacterial community of Panamanian Acromyrmex species, which are dominated by only four bacterial taxa: Wolbachia, Rhizobiales, and two Entomoplasmatales taxa. We show that the Entomoplasmatales can be both intracellular and extracellular across different gut tissues, Wolbachia is mainly but not exclusively intracellular, and the Rhizobiales species is strictly extracellular and confined to the gut lumen, where it forms biofilms along the hindgut cuticle supported by an adhesive matrix of polysaccharides. Tetracycline diets eliminated the Entomoplasmatales symbionts but hardly affected Wolbachia and only moderately reduced the Rhizobiales, suggesting that the latter are protected by the biofilm matrix. We show that the Rhizobiales symbiont produces bacterial NifH proteins that have been associated with the fixation of nitrogen, suggesting that these compartmentalized hindgut symbionts alleviate nutritional constraints emanating from an exclusive fungus garden diet reared on a substrate of leaves.
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Liberti J, Sapountzis P, Hansen LH, Sørensen SJ, Adams RMM, Boomsma JJ. Bacterial symbiont sharing in Megalomyrmex social parasites and their fungus-growing ant hosts. Mol Ecol 2015; 24:3151-69. [PMID: 25907143 PMCID: PMC5008137 DOI: 10.1111/mec.13216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2014] [Revised: 04/16/2015] [Accepted: 04/17/2015] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Bacterial symbionts are important fitness determinants of insects. Some hosts have independently acquired taxonomically related microbes to meet similar challenges, but whether distantly related hosts that live in tight symbiosis can maintain similar microbial communities has not been investigated. Varying degrees of nest sharing between Megalomyrmex social parasites (Solenopsidini) and their fungus-growing ant hosts (Attini) from the genera Cyphomyrmex, Trachymyrmex and Sericomyrmex allowed us to address this question, as both ant lineages rely on the same fungal diet, interact in varying intensities and are distantly related. We used tag-encoded FLX 454 pyrosequencing and diagnostic PCR to map bacterial symbiont diversity across the Megalomyrmex phylogenetic tree, which also contains free-living generalist predators. We show that social parasites and hosts share a subset of bacterial symbionts, primarily consisting of Entomoplasmatales, Bartonellaceae, Acinetobacter, Wolbachia and Pseudonocardia and that Entomoplasmatales and Bartonellaceae can co-infect specifically associated combinations of hosts and social parasites with identical 16S rRNA genotypes. We reconstructed in more detail the population-level infection dynamics for Entomoplasmatales and Bartonellaceae in Megalomyrmex symmetochus guest ants and their Sericomyrmex amabilis hosts. We further assessed the stability of the bacterial communities through a diet manipulation experiment and evaluated possible transmission modes in shared nests such as consumption of the same fungus garden food, eating of host brood by social parasites, trophallaxis and grooming interactions between the ants, or parallel acquisition from the same nest environment. Our results imply that cohabiting ant social parasites and hosts may obtain functional benefits from bacterial symbiont transfer even when they are not closely related.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joanito Liberti
- Centre for Social EvolutionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
| | - Panagiotis Sapountzis
- Centre for Social EvolutionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
| | - Lars H. Hansen
- Molecular Microbial Ecology GroupDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
- Present address: Environmental Microbial Genomics GroupDepartment of Environmental ScienceAarhus UniversityDK‐4000RoskildeDenmark
| | - Søren J. Sørensen
- Molecular Microbial Ecology GroupDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
| | - Rachelle M. M. Adams
- Centre for Social EvolutionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
- Department of EntomologyNational Museum of Natural HistorySmithsonian InstitutionWashingtonDC20560USA
| | - Jacobus J. Boomsma
- Centre for Social EvolutionDepartment of BiologyUniversity of CopenhagenUniversitetsparken 15DK‐2100CopenhagenDenmark
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43
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Roy V, Girondot M, Harry M. The distribution of Wolbachia in Cubitermes (Termitidae, Termitinae) castes and colonies: a modelling approach. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0116070. [PMID: 25671520 PMCID: PMC4324829 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0116070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2014] [Accepted: 12/05/2014] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Wolbachia are endosymbiotic bacteria of arthropods and nematodes that are able to manipulate host reproduction. Although vertically transmitted via the cytoplasm in eggs, horizontal transmission of Wolbachia among and within arthropod species has been shown to be common. Eusocial insects represent interesting models for studying Wolbachia transmission due to colonial organization and close interaction between nestmates. Here we conducted a detailed screening of Wolbachia infection for 15 colonies of the very common soil-feeding termites Cubitermes spp. affinis subarquatus (Termitidae, Termitinae) that consist of four distinct phylogenetic species in the Lopé forest Reserve, Gabon. Infection tests showed that 50% of the individuals were Wolbachia positive (N = 555) with 90% of reproductives and 48% of offspring infected. White soldiers, which are transitional stages preceding mature soldiers, had a significantly higher mean infection rate (74%) than the other castes and stages (63%, 33% and 39% for larvae, workers and mature soldiers, respectively). We used a maximum likelihood method and Akaike’s Information Criterion in order to explain the non-expected high rate of Wolbachia infection in white soldiers. The best model included a species effect for the stochastic loss of Wolbachia and a caste effect for the rate of gain. After fitting, the best model selected was for a species-specific rate of loss with a null rate of new gain for larvae, workers and soldiers and a probability of 0.72 whatever the species, that a white soldier becomes newly contaminated during that stage. The mean expected infection rate in white soldiers without a new gain was estimated to 17% instead of the 74% observed. Here we discuss the possible explanations to the high infection rate observed in white soldiers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Virginie Roy
- iEES—Institut d’écologie et des sciences de l’environnement de Paris, Département SOLéO, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Faculté des Sciences et Technologie, 61 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94010 Créteil cedex, France
| | - Marc Girondot
- Laboratoire d’Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, Département d’Ecologie des Populations et des Communautés, Université Paris-Sud 11, Bâtiment 362, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
| | - Myriam Harry
- Laboratoire Evolution, Génomes et Spéciation, UPR 9034 CNRS, UR 072 IRD, Université Paris Sud-11, avenue de la Terrasse, Bâtiment 13, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France/ UFR de Sciences, Université Paris-Sud 11, 91400 Orsay, France
- * E-mail:
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44
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Sicard M, Dittmer J, Grève P, Bouchon D, Braquart-Varnier C. A host as an ecosystem:Wolbachiacoping with environmental constraints. Environ Microbiol 2014; 16:3583-607. [DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.12573] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2014] [Accepted: 07/17/2014] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Sicard
- Institut des Sciences de l'Évolution; UMR CNRS 5554; Équipe Génomique de l'adaptation; Université Montpellier 2; Place Eugène Bataillon Montpellier Cedex 05 F-34095 France
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions; UMR CNRS 7267; Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose; Université de Poitiers; 5, Rue Albert Turpin Poitiers Cedex 9 F-86073 France
| | - Jessica Dittmer
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions; UMR CNRS 7267; Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose; Université de Poitiers; 5, Rue Albert Turpin Poitiers Cedex 9 F-86073 France
| | - Pierre Grève
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions; UMR CNRS 7267; Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose; Université de Poitiers; 5, Rue Albert Turpin Poitiers Cedex 9 F-86073 France
| | - Didier Bouchon
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions; UMR CNRS 7267; Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose; Université de Poitiers; 5, Rue Albert Turpin Poitiers Cedex 9 F-86073 France
| | - Christine Braquart-Varnier
- Laboratoire Écologie et Biologie des Interactions; UMR CNRS 7267; Équipe Écologie Évolution Symbiose; Université de Poitiers; 5, Rue Albert Turpin Poitiers Cedex 9 F-86073 France
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45
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Frost CL, Pollock SW, Smith JE, Hughes WOH. Wolbachia in the flesh: symbiont intensities in germ-line and somatic tissues challenge the conventional view of Wolbachia transmission routes. PLoS One 2014; 9:e95122. [PMID: 24988478 PMCID: PMC4079706 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0095122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2013] [Accepted: 03/25/2014] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Symbionts can substantially affect the evolution and ecology of their hosts. The investigation of the tissue-specific distribution of symbionts (tissue tropism) can provide important insight into host-symbiont interactions. Among other things, it can help to discern the importance of specific transmission routes and potential phenotypic effects. The intracellular bacterial symbiont Wolbachia has been described as the greatest ever panzootic, due to the wide array of arthropods that it infects. Being primarily vertically transmitted, it is expected that the transmission of Wolbachia would be enhanced by focusing infection in the reproductive tissues. In social insect hosts, this tropism would logically extend to reproductive rather than sterile castes, since the latter constitute a dead-end for vertically transmission. Here, we show that Wolbachia are not focused on reproductive tissues of eusocial insects, and that non-reproductive tissues of queens and workers of the ant Acromyrmex echinatior, harbour substantial infections. In particular, the comparatively high intensities of Wolbachia in the haemolymph, fat body, and faeces, suggest potential for horizontal transmission via parasitoids and the faecal-oral route, or a role for Wolbachia modulating the immune response of this host. It may be that somatic tissues and castes are not the evolutionary dead-end for Wolbachia that is commonly thought.
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Affiliation(s)
- Crystal L. Frost
- Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | | | - Judith E. Smith
- School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
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46
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Dittmer J, Beltran-Bech S, Lesobre J, Raimond M, Johnson M, Bouchon D. Host tissues as microhabitats forWolbachiaand quantitative insights into the bacterial community in terrestrial isopods. Mol Ecol 2014; 23:2619-35. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.12760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2013] [Accepted: 04/12/2014] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- J. Dittmer
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
| | - S. Beltran-Bech
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
| | - J. Lesobre
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
| | - M. Raimond
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
| | - M. Johnson
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
| | - D. Bouchon
- Université de Poitiers; UMR CNRS 7267 Ecologie et Biologie des Interactions; Equipe Ecologie Evolution Symbiose; 6 rue Michel Brunet 86073 Poitiers France
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47
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Zug R, Hammerstein P. Bad guys turned nice? A critical assessment of Wolbachia mutualisms in arthropod hosts. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2014; 90:89-111. [PMID: 24618033 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12098] [Citation(s) in RCA: 191] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2013] [Revised: 02/05/2014] [Accepted: 02/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
Wolbachia are the most abundant bacterial endosymbionts among arthropods. Although maternally inherited, they do not conform to the widespread view that vertical transmission inevitably selects for beneficial symbionts. Instead, Wolbachia are notorious for their reproductive parasitism which, although lowering host fitness, ensures their spread. However, even for reproductive parasites it can pay to enhance host fitness. Indeed, there is a recent upsurge of reports on Wolbachia-associated fitness benefits. Therefore, the question arises how such instances of mutualism are related to the phenotypes of reproductive parasitism. Here, we review the evidence of Wolbachia mutualisms in arthropods, including both facultative and obligate relationships, and critically assess their biological relevance. Although many studies report anti-pathogenic effects of Wolbachia, few actually prove these effects to be relevant to field conditions. We further show that Wolbachia frequently have beneficial and detrimental effects at the same time, and that reproductive manipulations and obligate mutualisms may share common mechanisms. These findings undermine the idea of a clear-cut distinction between Wolbachia mutualism and parasitism. In general, both facultative and obligate mutualisms can have a strong, and sometimes unforeseen, impact on the ecology and evolution of Wolbachia and their arthropod hosts. Acknowledging this mutualistic potential might be the key to a better understanding of some unresolved issues in the study of Wolbachia-host interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roman Zug
- Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany
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48
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Andersen SB, Hansen LH, Sapountzis P, Sørensen SJ, Boomsma JJ. Specificity and stability of the Acromyrmex-Pseudonocardia symbiosis. Mol Ecol 2013; 22:4307-4321. [PMID: 23899369 PMCID: PMC4228762 DOI: 10.1111/mec.12380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2012] [Revised: 04/08/2013] [Accepted: 04/18/2013] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
The stability of mutualistic interactions is likely to be affected by the genetic diversity of symbionts that compete for the same functional niche. Fungus-growing (attine) ants have multiple complex symbioses and thus provide ample opportunities to address questions of symbiont specificity and diversity. Among the partners are Actinobacteria of the genus Pseudonocardia that are maintained on the ant cuticle to produce antibiotics, primarily against a fungal parasite of the mutualistic gardens. The symbiosis has been assumed to be a hallmark of evolutionary stability, but this notion has been challenged by culturing and sequencing data indicating an unpredictably high diversity. We used 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA to estimate the diversity of the cuticular bacterial community of the leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and other fungus-growing ants from Gamboa, Panama. Both field and laboratory samples of the same colonies were collected, the latter after colonies had been kept under laboratory conditions for up to 10 years. We show that bacterial communities are highly colony-specific and stable over time. The majority of colonies (25/26) had a single dominant Pseudonocardia strain, and only two strains were found in the Gamboa population across 17 years, confirming an earlier study. The microbial community on newly hatched ants consisted almost exclusively of a single strain of Pseudonocardia while other Actinobacteria were identified on older, foraging ants in varying but usually much lower abundances. These findings are consistent with recent theory predicting that mixtures of antibiotic-producing bacteria can remain mutualistic when dominated by a single vertically transmitted and resource-demanding strain.
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Affiliation(s)
- S B Andersen
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - L H Hansen
- Molecular Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - P Sapountzis
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - S J Sørensen
- Molecular Microbial Ecology Group, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - J J Boomsma
- Centre for Social Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark
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