Wolbachia in guilds of Anastrepha fruit flies (Tephritidae) and parasitoid wasps (Braconidae).

Rodrigo O Mascarenhas,Celso Luiz Marino,Denise Selivon,André Luiz P Perondini,Leandro F Prezotto

doi:10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2016-0075

Rodrigo O Mascarenhas, Celso Luiz Marino + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2016-0075

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Abstract

The endosymbiont Wolbachia is efficiently transmitted from females to their progenies, but horizontal transmission between different taxa is also known to occur. Aiming to determine if horizontal transmission might have occurred between Anastrepha fruit flies and associated braconid wasps, infection by Wolbachia was screened by amplification of a fragment of the wsp gene. Eight species of the genus Anastrepha were analyzed, from which six species of associated parasitoid wasps were recovered. The endosymbiont was found in seven Anastrepha species and in five species of braconids. The WSP Typing methodology detected eight wsp alleles belonging to Wolbachia supergroup A. Three were already known and five were new ones, among which four were found to be putative recombinant haplotypes. Two samples of Anastrepha obliqua and one sample of Doryctobracon brasiliensis showed multiple infection. Single infection by Wolbachia was found in the majority of samples. The distribution of Wolbachia harboring distinct alleles differed significantly between fruit flies and wasps. However, in nine samples of fruit flies and associated wasps, Wolbachia harbored the same wsp allele. These congruences suggest that horizontal transfer of Wolbachia might have occurred in the communities of fruit flies and their braconid parasitoids.

Highlights

IntroductionThe endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia (alphaproteobacteria; Rickettsiales) is an intracellular parasite
The endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia is an intracellular parasite
The present analysis showed that most Anastrepha species were infected by a single Wolbachia strain, but a double infection and a multiple infection were found in A. obliqua

Summary

Introduction

The endosymbiotic bacteria Wolbachia (alphaproteobacteria; Rickettsiales) is an intracellular parasite It has been associated with the manipulation of its host’s reproduction by induction of several phenotypes, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) in several insect species, parthenogenesis in Hymenoptera, feminization of genetic males, and male killing in Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Diptera and Pseudoscorpiones (Werren, 1997; Bourtzis and O’Neill, 1998; Bourtzis et al, 2003; Werren et al, 2008). The bacteria may be beneficial to their hosts by interfering positively in several fitness components of males and females In such cases, the relationships between Wolbachia and their hosts evolved from a status of parasitism to mutualistic relationships (Werren et al, 2008; Serbus et al, 2008; Saridaki and Bourtzis, 2010). Horizontal transmission was considered the route of infection by multiple Wolbachia strains, as is frequently observed in many species of Coleoptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera and Lepidoptera (Werren et al, 1995; Jamnongluk et al, 2002; Rokas et al, 2002; Reuter and Keller, 2003; Hiroki et al, 2004; Schuler et al, 2011; Yang et al, 2012, 2013; Augustinos et al, 2014)

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