Abstract
Wolbachia symbionts are maternally inherited intracellular bacteria that have been detected in numerous insects including bed bugs. The objective of this study, the first epidemiological study in Europe, was to screen Wolbachia infection among Cimex lectularius collected in the field, using PCR targeting the surface protein gene (wsp), and to compare obtained Wolbachia strains with those reported from laboratory colonies of C. lectularius as well as other Wolbachia groups. For this purpose, 284 bed bug specimens were caught and studied from eight different regions of France including the suburbs of Paris, Bouches-du-Rhône, Lot-et-Garonne, and five localities in Alpes-Maritimes. Among the samples, 166 were adults and the remaining 118 were considered nymphs. In all, 47 out of 118 nymphs (40%) and 61 out of 166 adults (37%) were found positive on wsp screening. Among the positive cases, 10 samples were selected randomly for sequencing. The sequences had 100% homology with wsp sequences belonging to the F-supergroup strains of Wolbachia. Therefore, we confirm the similarity of Wolbachia strains detected in this epidemiological study to Wolbachia spp. reported from laboratory colonies of C. lectularius.
Highlights
PCR products of 10 samples were selected randomly to perform sequencing. These samples carried Wolbachia DNA according to the Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) process
The sequences obtained from this study have been deposited in GenBank under Accession Numbers KR706518 to KR706527. They are identical or highly similar (100% homology) to several Wolbachia sequences from C. lectularius deposited in GenBank, including isolates from Australia (AB475130, AB475131), Japan (AB475128, AB475129), and USA (DQ842459)
These studies are important for several reasons: (i) Wolbachia species are important for studies targeting evolutionary processes due to their widespread distribution among different host populations, (ii) Wolbachia species can be used in studies focusing on biological and cellular processes because they lead to changes in the development and mitotic processes in their hosts, and (iii) due to the potential role of Wolbachia species in reducing host ability to reproduce and decreasing the population size, they are an important part of biological control of vector/pest insect populations [2, 7, 17]
Summary
Bed bugs are blood-sucking insects and human ectoparasites, and have re-emerged over the last two decades. Bed bug infestations have been reported to have physical and psychological effects in humans. Despite isolation of several pathogens, found in the bed bug body, they have not been confirmed as a vector of pathogens to humans [18]. Bed bug infections by Burkholderia multivorans have been reported by Saenz et al [28], who screened different bed bug populations in the United States
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