Abstract
Wolbachia in host germ lines are essential for their vertical transmission to the next generation. It is unclear how the regulation of host oocyte development influences Wolbachia location and the mechanistic basis of transmission. Here, we investigated whether vitellogenin influences Wolbachia transmission in Laodelphax striatellus. Wolbachia increased in density and spread from the anterior tropharium to developing oocytes as ovaries developed. Microscopic observations indicated that Wolbachia invaded ovarioles from the tropharium of its anterior side rather than the pedicel side. Wolbachia utilized the host Vg transovarial transportation system to enter the ovaries and were transmitted from the tropharium into the developing oocytes through nutritive cords. These observations were supported by knocking down the Vg transcript, in which low Wolbachia titers were detected in ovaries and fewer Wolbachia were transmitted into oocytes. Our findings establish a link between the Vg-related mode of transovarial transmission and efficient maternal transmission of Wolbachia.
Highlights
Wolbachia bacteria that occur intracellularly in reproductive tissues of a wide range of arthropods (O’Neill et al, 1992; Rousset et al, 1992; Werren et al, 1995) are vertically transmitted from parents to offspring in a transovarial manner
These results suggest that higher Wolbachia titers in ovaries may be mediated by Vg transmission in L. striatellus
The Wolbachia densities were lower in dsRNA for Vg (dsVg)-treated than in the dsGFP-treated ovarioles (Supplementary Figure 5). All of these results suggest that Vg expression reduction by RNA Interference (RNAi) prevented Wolbachia transmission into L. striatellus ovaries
Summary
Wolbachia bacteria that occur intracellularly in reproductive tissues of a wide range of arthropods (O’Neill et al, 1992; Rousset et al, 1992; Werren et al, 1995) are vertically transmitted from parents to offspring in a transovarial manner. Wolbachia have been detected in host somatic tissues, they are primarily found in the host germ line (Dobson et al, 1999; Clark et al, 2002; Ijichi et al, 2002). Wolbachia are present within developing spermatocytes (Bressac and Rousset, 1993; Clark et al, 2002; Ijichi et al, 2002), but they are not transmitted through sperm. Wolbachia are transmitted to eggs, where they persist through embryogenesis and eventually become incorporated in the precursors of germ line stem
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