Heads or Tails: Host-Parasite Interactions in the
            <i>Drosophila-Wolbachia</i>
            System

Veneti, Zoe; Clark, Michael E.; Karr, Timothy L.; Savakis, Charalambos; Bourtzis, Kostas

doi:10.1128/aem.70.9.5366-5372.2004

Cited by 149 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Transmission of Wolbachia through the female germline is not complete in C. alternans (Keller et al, 2004), suggesting that not all pole cells were infected. Work in Drosophila has shown a positive correlation between the density of Wolbachia within pole cells and CI levels (Veneti et al, 2004). This may support Wolbachia-induced modification of pole cells or it may simply be a predictor of Wolbachia titer later in gemetogenesis when modification occurs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Wolbachia modification of sperm does not always require residence within developing sperm

et al. 2008

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Wolbachia are maternally inherited intracellular bacteria known to manipulate the reproduction of their arthropod hosts. Wolbachia commonly affect the sperm of infected arthropods. Wolbachia-modified sperm cannot successfully fertilize unless the female is infected with the same Wolbachia type. A study of spermatogenesis in the parasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis reveals that Wolbachia are not required in individual spermatocytes or spermatids to modify sperm. In N. vitripennis, Wolbachia modify nearly all sperm, but are found only in B28% of developing sperm, and are also found in surrounding cyst and sheath cells. In the beetle Chelymorpha alternans, Wolbachia can modify up to 90% of sperm, but were never observed within the developing sperm or within the surrounding cyst cells; they were abundant within the outer testis sheath. We conclude that the residence within a developing sperm is not a prerequisite for Wolbachia-induced sperm modification, suggesting that Wolbachia modification of sperm may occur across multiple tissue membranes or act upstream of spermiogenesis.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Wolbachia modification of sperm does not always require residence within developing sperm

et al. 2008

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“…1 L and M), the location of germ plasm destined to form germline cells. Such colocalization with the germ plasm has been known from a wide variety of Wolbachia and other insect endosymbionts (11,20), which may facilitate stable vertical transmission of the maternally inherited microbes. During embryonic development, the Wolbachia signals migrated to a specific region associated with the germ band, participating in the formation of the bacteriome (Fig.…”

Section: Localization Of Bacterial Symbionts In Bedbugsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolbachia as a bacteriocyte-associated nutritional mutualist

Hosokawa

Koga

Kikuchi

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

695

691

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Many insects are dependent on bacterial symbionts that provide essential nutrients (ex. aphid-Buchnera and tsetse-Wiglesworthia associations), wherein the symbionts are harbored in specific cells called bacteriocytes that constitute a symbiotic organ bacteriome. Facultative and parasitic bacterial symbionts like Wolbachia have been regarded as evolutionarily distinct from such obligate nutritional mutualists. However, we discovered that, in the bedbug Cimex lectularius, Wolbachia resides in a bacteriome and appears to be an obligate nutritional mutualist. Two bacterial symbionts, a Wolbachia strain and an unnamed γ-proteobacterium, were identified from different strains of the bedbug. The Wolbachia symbiont was detected from all of the insects examined whereas the γ-proteobacterium was found in a part of them. The Wolbachia symbiont was specifically localized in the bacteriomes and vertically transmitted via the somatic stem cell niche of germalia to oocytes, infecting the incipient symbiotic organ at an early stage of the embryogenesis. Elimination of the Wolbachia symbiont resulted in retarded growth and sterility of the host insect. These deficiencies were rescued by oral supplementation of B vitamins, confirming the essential nutritional role of the symbiont for the host. The estimated genome size of the Wolbachia symbiont was around 1.3 Mb, which was almost equivalent to the genome sizes of parasitic Wolbachia strains of other insects. These results indicate that bacteriocyte-associated nutritional mutualism can evolve from facultative and prevalent microbial associates like Wolbachia, highlighting a previously unknown aspect of the parasitism-mutualism evolutionary continuum.B vitamins | bacteriome | Cimex lectularius | nutritional mutualism

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“…Cover glasses were removed by using a razor blade, and the slides were placed in ice-cold ethanol for 3 min and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 12 min. Slides were rehydrated in TBST, blocked, and incubated with antibodies and propidium iodide as described (23).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility as a means for insect pest population control

Zabalou

Riegler

Theodorakopoulou

et al. 2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

341

335

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C ytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is the most widespread and, perhaps, the most prominent feature that Wolbachia endosymbionts impose on their hosts (1, 2). CI results in embryonic mortality (EM) in matings between insects of the same species with different Wolbachia infection status (3, 4). It can be either unidirectional or bidirectional. Unidirectional CI is typically expressed when an infected male mates with an uninfected female. The reciprocal mating is fully compatible, as are matings between infected individuals. Bidirectional CI usually occurs in matings between infected individuals harboring different strains of Wolbachia. Although the mechanism of CI has not yet been elucidated on the molecular level, several lines of evidence suggest that Wolbachia somehow modifies the paternal chromosomes during spermatogenesis (mature sperm does not contain the bacteria). This modification influences their behavior during the first mitotic divisions and results in loss of mitotic synchrony (5, 6). Even before the etiological connection between Wolbachia and CI was revealed in mosquitoes (7), attempts were made to exploit CI as a method to suppress natural populations of arthropod pests in a way analogous to the sterile insect technique (S.I.T.) (8). These early attempts involved the mass production and release of incompatible male insects to control wild populations of disease vectors such as the mosquito Culex pipiens (9) and of agricultural pests such as the European cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (10) and, at a smaller scale, the almond moth Cadra (Ephestia) cautella (11).The Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly) Ceratitis capitata is a worldwide pest that infests Ͼ250 fruit varieties of economic importance (12). Extensive screenings of both laboratory and natural populations of medfly have shown that this insect pest is not infected with Wolbachia (13). However, at the time of this writing, ongoing experimental work suggests that some Brazilian natural populations of medfly may be infected with Wolbachia (D. Selivon, personal communication). To determine whether the medfly can support Wolbachia infections and express CI, we used conventional embryonic cytoplasmic injections (14-17) for transfer of natural bacterial symbionts from a related species, R. cerasi (Diptera, Tephritidae) (18), to an uninfected laboratory strain of medf ly C. capitata (Diptera, Tephritidae), the Benakeion strain.Previous studies have demonstrated high levels of incompatibility between natural populations of R. cerasi (10,19), the basis of which was recently shown to be Wolbachia (18). Populations of R. cerasi are either infected by a single Wolbachia variant, wCer1, or coinfected by two variants, wCer1 and wCer2. Incompatibility occurs between males from doubly infected populations and females from singly infected populations, suggesting the wCer2 infection as the cause of CI (18). Additionally, transfer of wCer2 in Drosophila simulans also resulted to the induction of CI (17). An additional, yet uncharacterized, Wolbachia strain (wCer...

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Heads or Tails: Host-Parasite Interactions in the Drosophila-Wolbachia System

Cited by 149 publications

References 46 publications

Wolbachia modification of sperm does not always require residence within developing sperm

Wolbachia modification of sperm does not always require residence within developing sperm

Wolbachia as a bacteriocyte-associated nutritional mutualist

Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility as a means for insect pest population control

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