Abstract
Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular symbiotic bacteria that are widely distributed in arthropods and nematodes. These maternally inherited bacteria regulate host reproductive systems in various ways to facilitate their vertical transmission. Since the identification of Wolbachia in many insects, the relationship between Wolbachia and the host has attracted great interest. Numerous studies have indicated that Wolbachia modifies a variety of biological processes in the host. Previous studies in Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster) have demonstrated that Wolbachia can affect spermatid differentiation, chromosome deposition, and sperm activity in the early stages of spermatogenesis, leading to sperm dysfunction. Here, we explored the putative effect of Wolbachia in sperm maturation using transcriptomic approaches to compare gene expression in Wolbachia-infected and Wolbachia-free D. melanogaster adult testes. Our findings show that Wolbachia affects many biological processes in D. melanogaster adult testes, and most of the differentially expressed genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, lysosomal degradation, proteolysis, lipid metabolism, and immune response were upregulated in the presence of Wolbachia. In contrast, some genes that are putatively associated with cutin and wax biosynthesis and peroxisome pathways were downregulated. We did not find any differentially expressed genes that are predicted to be related to spermatogenesis in the datasets. This work provides additional information for understanding the Wolbachia-host intracellular relationships.
Highlights
Wolbachia, a genus of maternally transmitted intracellular bacteria, are widely distributed in arthropods and nematodes
Our findings show that Wolbachia affects many biological processes in D. mel adult testes, and most of the differentially expressed genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, lysosomal degradation, proteolysis, lipid metabolism, and immune response were upregulated in the presence of Wolbachia
Yuan et al conducted a proteome analysis of female Drosophila spermathecae and seminal receptacles (SSR) and showed that Wolbachia infection significantly altered the expression of various proteins in males, including immune, metabolic, and reproductive-related proteins
Summary
A genus of maternally transmitted intracellular bacteria, are widely distributed in arthropods and nematodes To increase their chances of transmission, Wolbachia regulates the host’s reproductive system in various mechanisms, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), parthenogenesis-induction (PI), male-killing (MK), feminization, and enhancement of female fertility [1]. Wolbachia can enhance the insect host’s resistance to many pathogens, such as RNA viruses [4, 5], and provide vitamins to the host [6]. Other processes, such as host longevity, olfactory responses, immunity, and stem cell proliferation, can be affected by Wolbachia [7,8,9]. These findings indicate that the relationship between Wolbachia and the host is complicated, and the related molecular mechanisms need to be explored
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