Abstract
The symbiosis system comprising eukaryotic hosts, intracellular bacterium Wolbachia, and temperate bacteriophages WO is widely spread through nearly half the number of arthropod species. The relationships between the three components of the system are extremely intricate. Even though the bacteriophage WO can have diverse influences on the ecology and evolution of Wolbachia, little is known about the distribution and evolution of the phages. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report that in infected fig wasps (Ceratosolen solmsi, Kradibia gibbosae, and Wiebesia pumilae), the genomes of all the Wolbachia strains had only one cryptic WO prophage, which contained defects in the genomic structural modules. This phenomenon was contrary to the widely accepted understanding that Wolbachia with cryptic prophages usually possesses at least one intact WO prophage consisting of gene sequences of the head, baseplate, and tail modules, through which the prophage could form intact virions. In addition to the genetic structure features, the phylogenetic relationships of WO and Wolbachia also revealed that bacteriophage WO can horizontally spread among a certain genus or a group of insect hosts, nearly free from the restriction of the affiliation of Wolbachia. Combined with the vertical transmission along with Wolbachia, the wide spread of WO phages can be explained. Furthermore, the gender preference and functional module preference for transcriptional activity of the genes in cryptic WOs implied the antagonized coevolutionary pattern between WO prophages and their Wolbachia hosts.
Highlights
Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular endosymbiotic bacteria belonging to the order Rickettsiale and is estimated to be distributed in more than 66% of arthropods and shows mutualistic symbiosis in nematodes (Werren, 1997; Ferri et al, 2011)
We discovered an intact scaffold, which was highly homologous with Wolbachia, and this scaffold was considered as the genome of Wolbachia infecting W. pumilae (wWpum). (c) For the genome of Wolbachia infecting K. gibbosae, which was sequenced using third-generation PacBio Sequel, we used BLASTN against the data set of the genomes of known Wolbachia to find homologous reads of Wolbachia
To determine whether it is a special phenomenon that Wolbachia that infect fig wasps contain only cryptic prophages without the existence of any intact WO, as well as to understand the tendency of structural change and the evolutionary relationship of the WO prophages, we searched for and annotated the prophages WO that infect the other 24 Wolbachia strains in supergroup A
Summary
Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular endosymbiotic bacteria belonging to the order Rickettsiale and is estimated to be distributed in more than 66% of arthropods and shows mutualistic symbiosis in nematodes (Werren, 1997; Ferri et al, 2011). Wolbachia can manipulate the reproductive system of eukaryotic hosts using diverse methods, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), feminization of genetic male, Distribution and Evolution of WOs parthenogenesis, and male killing (Werren et al, 2008), to avail the maternal transmission of its own population. It can exert an influence on numerous processes in the host, including immune, behavioral, and metabolic processes (Landmann, 2019). It can be applied to control the populations of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, for inhibiting the widespread transmission of various arboviruses that are harmful to humans (Hoffmann et al, 2011; van den Hurk et al, 2012; Caragata et al, 2016)
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