Abstract
Wolbachia is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont whose radiative success is mainly related to various host reproductive manipulations that led to consider this symbiont as a conflictual reproductive parasite. However, lately, some Wolbachia have been shown to act as beneficial symbionts by protecting hosts against a broad range of parasites. Still, this protection has been mostly demonstrated in artificial Wolbachia-host associations between partners that did not co-evolved together. Here, we tested in two terrestrial isopod species Armadillidium vulgare and Porcellio dilatatus whether resident Wolbachia (native or non-native) could confer protection during infections with Listeria ivanovii and Salmonella typhimurium and also during a transinfection with a Wolbachia strain that kills the recipient host (i.e., wVulC in P. dilatatus). Survival analyses showed that (i) A. vulgare lines hosting their native Wolbachia (wVulC) always exhibited higher survival than asymbiotic ones when infected with pathogenic bacteria (ii) P. dilatatus lines hosting their native wDil Wolbachia strain survived the S. typhimurium infection better, while lines hosting non-native wCon Wolbachia strain survived the L. ivanovii and also the transinfection with wVulC from A. vulgare better. By studying L. ivanovii and S. typhimurium loads in the hemolymph of the different host-Wolbachia systems, we showed that (i) the difference in survival between lines after L. ivanovii infections were not linked to the difference between their pathogenic bacterial loads, and (ii) the difference in survival after S. typhimurium infections corresponds to lower loads of pathogenic bacteria. Overall, our results demonstrate a beneficial effect of Wolbachia on survival of terrestrial isopods when infected with pathogenic intracellular bacteria. This protective effect may rely on different mechanisms depending on the resident symbiont and the invasive bacteria interacting together within the hosts.
Highlights
Symbioses, defined as intimate interactions between two or more species, can range from mutualism, where both partners benefit from the relationship, to parasitism where one of the partners exploits the other
Isopod Lines We studied the impact of resident Wolbachia on their host survival when infected with intracellular pathogenic bacteria with lines of two terrestrial isopod host species
These two host species were chosen because each of them allowed to test the effect of different parameters: (i) the model A. vulgare allowed us to test the impact of the feminizing Wolbachia wVulC and of their different host’s population of origin while (ii) the model P. dilatatus allowed us to test the effect of two cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI)-inducing Wolbachia genotypes on the same host genetic background
Summary
Symbioses, defined as intimate interactions between two or more species, can range from mutualism, where both partners benefit from the relationship, to parasitism where one of the partners exploits the other. There is clear evidence that symbionts can be involved in protection against predators and pathogens (Scarborough et al, 2005; Hedges and Johnson, 2008; Jaenike et al, 2010; Xie et al, 2010). This protection might be achieved with a direct interference with the pathogens or predators by the production of toxic compounds (Davidson et al, 2001; Jaenike and Perlman, 2002). The underlying mechanisms of protective symbiosis are not yet unraveled (Douglas, 2011), the existence of protection against pathogens mediated by the presence of a vertically transmitted symbiont is supported by many studies (Haine, 2008; Brownlie and Johnson, 2009)
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