Association of Wolbachia with Gene Expression in Drosophila Testes

Abstract

Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular symbiotic bacteria that are widely distributed in arthropods and nematodes. These maternally inherited bacteria regulate host reproductive systems in various ways to facilitate their vertical transmission. Since the identi cation of Wolbachia in many insects, the relationship between Wolbachia and the host has attracted great interest. Numerous studies have indicated that Wolbachia modi es a variety of biological processes in the host. Previous studies in Drosophila melanogaster (D. mel) have demonstrated that Wolbachia can affect spermatid differentiation, chromosome deposition, and sperm activity in the early stages of spermatogenesis, leading to sperm dysfunction. Here, we explored the putative effect of Wolbachia in sperm maturation using transcriptomic approaches to compare gene expression in Wolbachia-infected and Wolbachia-free D. mel adult testes. Our ndings show that Wolbachia affects many biological processes in D. mel adult testes, and most of the differentially expressed genes involved in carbohydrate metabolism, lysosomal degradation, proteolysis, lipid metabolism, and immune response were upregulated in the presence of Wolbachia. In contrast, some genes that are putatively associated with cutin and wax biosynthesis and peroxisome pathways were downregulated. We did not nd any differentially expressed genes that are predicted to be related to spermatogenesis in the datasets. This work provides additional information for understanding the Wolbachia-host intracellular relationships.

Comparative Ubiquitome Analysis Reveals Deubiquitinating Effects Induced by Wolbachia Infection in Drosophila melanogaster

“…In the present study, we identified 643 DEPs, and again, most (72.78%) were downregulated due to Wolbachia infection. Among those significantly changed proteins, many of them are involved in metabolic processes, which is similar to the results observed in our previous study [ 20 , 31 ] and reports from other groups [ 32 , 33 ]. In studies on human, mouse, boar, and rainbow trout sperm proteome, many sperm proteins were also related to the metabolic processes [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”

Single-cell transcriptome sequencing reveals Wolbachia -mediated modification in early stages of Drosophila spermatogenesis

“…Drosophila melanogaster naturally infected Wolbachia strain wMel was available in our laboratory; Wolbachia-uninfected D. melanogaster strains were established following the previously reported method [28]. All flies were reared on standard Drosophila cornflour medium at 25°C with a photoperiod of 14 h L : 12 h D (light : dark) and 40% relative humidity [35].…”

“…Based on the HM model, many researchers have carried out various omics studies on the putative modification of testes by Wolbachia and identified multiple host genes and metabolic pathways that may be closely related to CI [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30]. However, owing to the complexity of spermatogenesis and the heterogeneity of cell types in the testes, we still do not know whether Wolbachia have different effects on cells at different stages of spermatogenesis or whether these effects may be associated with CI.…”

Ovarian transcriptional response to Wolbachia infection in D. melanogaster in the context of between-genotype variation in gene expression

“…The effects of Wolbachia on host gene expression have been the focus of recent attention. Studies in the ovaries ( He et al 2019 ), whole body ( Detcharoen et al 2021 ; Lindsey et al 2021 ), and testis ( Dou et al 2021 ) have revealed many genes and pathways that are differentially transcribed in response to Wolbachia infection. However, these studies have been conducted in single host genetic backgrounds.…”