Addition of wsp Sequences to the Wolbachia Phylogenetic Tree and Stability of the Classification

Abstract

Wolbachia are symbiotic bacteria altering reproductive characters of numerous arthropods. Their most recent phylogeny and classification are based on sequences of the wsp gene. We sequenced wsp gene from six Wolbachia strains infecting six Trichogramma species that live as egg parasitoids on many insects. This allows us to test the effect of the addition of sequences on the Wolbachia phylogeny and to check the classification of Wolbachia infecting Trichogramma. The six Wolbachia studied are classified in the B supergroup. They confirm the monophyletic structure of the B Wolbachia in Trichogramma but introduce small differences in the Wolbachia classification. Modifications include the definition of a new group, Sem, for Wolbachia of T. semblidis and the merging of the two closely related groups, Sib and Kay. Specific primers were determined and tested for the Sem group.

Phylogeny of the Trichogramma endosymbiont Wolbachia, an alpha-proteobacteria (Rickettsiae)

“…Two T. pretiosum lines (Tpret-06 and Tpret-13) fell within the group of T. deion (Dei) and the three others lines fell within the merged group Sib (Sib + Kay) proposed by Pintureau et al (2000). In addition, that proposal is in agreement with this study and was confirmed by including many other sequences from the GenBank database (Figure 1).…”

“…The Wolbachia strains that infect T. cordubensis and T. brevicapillum also belong to Sib group. Inclusion of the Wolbachia from T. cordubensis in Sib group agrees with the results obtained by Pintureau et al (2000). T. brevicapillum was also classified in the same group as T. cordubensis and its classification in the B group was shown by von der Schulenburg et al (2000) using the ftsZ gene.…”

“…Pintureau et al (2000) studying Wolbachia in Trichogramma suggested the creation of a new group (Sem) for T. semblidis and to merge the groups Sib and Kay under the name Sib because after the addition of new hosts, these groups did not differ by 2.5% any longer.…”

“…Wolbachia from T. dendrolimi also fell in the Sib group. Van Meer et al (1999) and Pintureau et al (2000) have found different strains of Wolbachia that infect T. deion species belonging to different groups (Dei and Sib). Here the same situation was found for T. pretiosum.…”

Cloning and sequencing of wsp encoding gene fragments reveals a diversity of co-infecting Wolbachia strains in Acromyrmex leafcutter ants

“…PCR amplification was carried out according to the protocol of Pintureau et al (2000). After amplification, 10 ll of the reaction mixture was electrophoresed with a 100 bp DNA ladder size standard (GibcoBRL) on 1.5% agarose minigels.…”