TY - JOUR
T1 - Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina)
AU - Doudoumis, Vangelis
AU - Tsiamis, George
AU - Wamwiri, Florence
AU - Brelsfoard, Corey
AU - Alam, Uzma
AU - Aksoy, Emre
AU - Dalaperas, Stelios
AU - Abd-Alla, Adly
AU - Ouma, Johnson
AU - Takac, Peter
AU - Aksoy, Serap
AU - Bourtzis, Kostas
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was co-funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme CSA-SA_REGPROT-2007-1 under grant agreement no 203590 and CSA-SA REGPOT-2008-2 under grant agreement 245746. We are also grateful to FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Program “Improving SIT for Tsetse Flies through Research on their Symbionts” and to EU COST Action FA0701 “Arthropod Symbiosis: From Fundamental Studies to Pest and Disease Management”. This study also received support from National Institutes of Health grants AI06892, D43TW007391, R03TW008413 and Monell Foundation awarded to SA. We also thank Drs. Jan Van Den Abbeele, Andrew Chamisa, Antony Chupa, Berisha Kapitano, Karen Kappmeier-Green, Stephan Kkilaui, Imna Malele, Sadou Miga, Alan Robinson, Loyce Okedi and Hasanq Tanqa for providing tsetse flies samples and Gisele Oudrougou and Abdul Hasim Mohamed for their technical help with DNA extraction. This article has been published as part of BMC Microbiology Volume 11 Supplement 1, 2012: Arthropod symbioses: from fundamental studies to pest and disease mangement. The full contents of the supplement are available online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2180/12?issue=S1.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Background: Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic -Proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia is able to induce reproductive abnormalities such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing, thus affecting biology, ecology and evolution of its hosts. The bacterial group has prompted research regarding its potential for the control of agricultural and medical disease vectors, including Glossina spp., which transmits African trypanosomes, the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals. Results: In the present study, we employed a Wolbachia specific 16S rRNA PCR assay to investigate the presence of Wolbachia in six different laboratory stocks as well as in natural populations of nine different Glossina species originating from 10 African countries. Wolbachia was prevalent in Glossina morsitans morsitans, G. morsitans centralis and G. austeni populations. It was also detected in G. brevipalpis, and, for the first time, in G. pallidipes and G. palpalis gambiensis. On the other hand, Wolbachia was not found in G. p. palpalis, G. fuscipes fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Wolbachia infections of different laboratory and natural populations of Glossina species were characterized using 16S rRNA, the wsp (Wolbachia Surface Protein) gene and MLST (Multi Locus Sequence Typing) gene markers. This analysis led to the detection of horizontal gene transfer events, in which Wobachia genes were inserted into the tsetse flies fly nuclear genome. Conclusions: Wolbachia infections were detected in both laboratory and natural populations of several different Glossina species. The characterization of these Wolbachia strains promises to lead to a deeper insight in tsetse flies-Wolbachia interactions, which is essential for the development and use of Wolbachia-based biological control methods.
AB - Background: Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic -Proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia is able to induce reproductive abnormalities such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing, thus affecting biology, ecology and evolution of its hosts. The bacterial group has prompted research regarding its potential for the control of agricultural and medical disease vectors, including Glossina spp., which transmits African trypanosomes, the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals. Results: In the present study, we employed a Wolbachia specific 16S rRNA PCR assay to investigate the presence of Wolbachia in six different laboratory stocks as well as in natural populations of nine different Glossina species originating from 10 African countries. Wolbachia was prevalent in Glossina morsitans morsitans, G. morsitans centralis and G. austeni populations. It was also detected in G. brevipalpis, and, for the first time, in G. pallidipes and G. palpalis gambiensis. On the other hand, Wolbachia was not found in G. p. palpalis, G. fuscipes fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Wolbachia infections of different laboratory and natural populations of Glossina species were characterized using 16S rRNA, the wsp (Wolbachia Surface Protein) gene and MLST (Multi Locus Sequence Typing) gene markers. This analysis led to the detection of horizontal gene transfer events, in which Wobachia genes were inserted into the tsetse flies fly nuclear genome. Conclusions: Wolbachia infections were detected in both laboratory and natural populations of several different Glossina species. The characterization of these Wolbachia strains promises to lead to a deeper insight in tsetse flies-Wolbachia interactions, which is essential for the development and use of Wolbachia-based biological control methods.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84856011341&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1471-2180-12-S1-S3
DO - 10.1186/1471-2180-12-S1-S3
M3 - Article
C2 - 22376025
AN - SCOPUS:84856011341
SN - 1471-2180
VL - 12
JO - BMC Microbiology
JF - BMC Microbiology
IS - SUPPL. 1
M1 - S3
ER -