Cannibalism and Predation as Paths for Horizontal Passage of Wolbachia between Terrestrial Isopods

Abstract

The alpha-proteobacteria Wolbachia are the most widespread endosymbionts in arthropods and nematodes. Mainly maternally inherited, these so-called sex parasites have selected several strategies that increase their vertical dispersion in host populations. However, the lack of congruence between the Wolbachia and their host phylogenies suggests frequent horizontal transfers. One way that could be used for horizontal Wolbachia transfers between individuals is predation. The aim of this study was to test whether horizontal passage of Wolbachia is possible when an uninfected terrestrial isopod eats an infected one. After having eaten Armadillidium vulgare harbouring Wolbachia, the predator-recipients (the two woodlice A. vulgare and Porcellio dilatatus dilatatus) that were initially Wolbachia-free were tested positive for the presence of Wolbachia both by quantitative PCR and Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (FISH). Even if the titers were low compared to vertically infected individuals, this constitutes the first demonstration of Wolbachia occurrence in various organs of an initially uninfected host after eating an infected one.

An elusive endosymbiont: Does Wolbachia occur naturally in Aedes aegypti?

“…Although Wolbachia are maternally inherited, interspecific transfer may occur through parasitism (Ahmed et al, ; Heath, Butcher, Whitfield, & Hubbard, ), consumption of infected individuals (Le Clec'h et al, , Brown & Lloyd, ), sharing a common environment (Huigens, Almeida, Boons, Luck, & Stouthamer, ; Li et al, ), or other mechanisms. Successful horizontal transmission is likely to be rare, but Wolbachia can spread rapidly throughout populations once introduced (Kriesner, Hoffmann, Lee, Turelli, & Weeks, ; Turelli & Hoffmann, ).…”

Wolbachia: Can we save lives with a great pandemic?

“…While these infections rampantly transfer between different arthropod hosts on an evolutionary time scale, including a recent study that showed ingestion of infected arthropods can lead to infection [3], Wolbachia are predominantly transmitted vertically by maternal inheritance via infected stem cells of the ovaries to developing oocytes [4]. On top of the ability to both switch hosts and transmit vertically, Wolbachia use several parasitic and mutualistic mechanisms to increase the number of infected females in a new host population.…”

Plant–mediated horizontal transmission of Wolbachia between whiteflies

“…Recently, Wolbachia horizontal transmission through invertebrate predators and parasitoids has been revealed (Huigens et al , 2000, 2004; Le Clec'h et al , 2013; Ahmed et al , 2015). However, the presence of identical strains of Wolbachia among species that do not share predators and parasitoids but have similar habitats, such as shared host plants or food sources, suggests that plants or food may be involved in Wolbachia horizontal transmission (Sintupachee et al , 2006; Caspi-Fluger et al , 2012; Weinert et al , 2015).…”