Abstract
Wolbachia can profoundly influence the survival, reproduction, and defenses of insect hosts. These interactions could potentially be harnessed for managing pests or insect‐transmitted diseases. Diaphorina citri Kuwayama is a phloem‐feeding pest capable of transmitting the putative causal agent of citrus greening, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). Like many insects, D. citri is also infected with Wolbachia (wDi). Recent studies indicate that the relative abundance of wDi could be associated with the abundance of CLas, and that wDi may contribute to regulating expression of phage lytic cycle genes in CLas, suggesting the need for better understanding of wDi biology in general. This study investigated the genetic diversity of wDi among D. citri in populations spanning eleven countries and two U.S. territories. Six Wolbachia genes, wsp, coxA, fbpA, ftsZ, gatB, and hcpA, were sequenced and compared across samples. Two prevalent wDi strains were identified across the samples, and screening of clone libraries revealed possible coinfection of wDi strains in specific populations. D. citri mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (mtCOI) were more divergent between D. citri populations that were infected with different wDi strains or had different infection statuses (single infection vs. coinfection). While we could not eliminate the possibility that maternal transmission may contribute to such patterns, it is also possible that wDi may induce cytoplasmic incompatibility in their host. These findings should contribute to the understanding of wDi population ecology, which may facilitate manipulation of this endosymbiont for management of citrus greening disease worldwide.
Highlights
Bacterial endosymbionts of insects have a diverse and profound influence on host biology (Moran & Telang, 1998; Werren et al, 2008; Engelstadter & Hurst, 2009; Feldhaar, 2011)
Insect Science published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 26, 671–682
A different profile was detected in all samples originated from the United States (Florida, Hawaii, Texas), American Samoa, Belize, Mexico, Pakistan, and Colombia; the alleles of this profile did not completely match to any known profiles in the multilocus sequence typing (MLST) database, but were identical to sequences of a published Wolbachia genomic assembly obtained from Florida-reared D. citri (Saha et al, 2012); this profile is hereafter referred to as showed clear distinction between the Florida (ST-FL) (Table 3; Fig. 1)
Summary
Bacterial endosymbionts of insects have a diverse and profound influence on host biology (Moran & Telang, 1998; Werren et al, 2008; Engelstadter & Hurst, 2009; Feldhaar, 2011). Current control strategies, including tree removal, and insecticide and antimicrobial applications have limited or variable efficacy (Michaud, 2004; Qureshi et al, 2009; Tiwari et al, 2011; Hall et al, 2013; Stansly et al, 2014) These facts and the continued spread of citrus greening suggest the need for additional methods to supplement existing integrated pest management strategies
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