Intracellular Symbionts and Other Bacteria Associated with Deer Ticks (<i>Ixodes scapularis</i>) from Nantucket and Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Benson, Micah J.; Gawronski, Jeffrey D.; Eveleigh, D. E.; Benson, David R.

doi:10.1128/aem.70.1.616-620.2004

Cited by 121 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(28 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…or all Wolbachia strains, and has no close similarity to other organisms to allow a phylogenetic assignment. Both organisms can infect ovaries and can infect I. scapularis (Benson et al, 2004), possibly providing the opportunity for plasmid transfer. Alternatively, another host or a third DNA reservoir may be involved in mediating this transfer.…”

Section: Lateral Gene Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive genomic diversity of closely related Wolbachia strains

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Using microarray-based comparative genome hybridization (mCGH), the genomic content of Wolbachia pipientis wMel from Drosophila melanogaster was compared to the closely related Wolbachia from D. innubila (wInn), D. santomea (wSan), and three strains from D. simulans (wAu, wRi, wSim). A large number of auxiliary genes are identified in these five strains, with most absent/ divergent genes being unique to a given strain. Each strain caused an average of~60 genes to be removed from the core genome. As such, these organisms do not appear to have the streamlined genomes expected of obligate intracellular bacteria. Prophage, hypothetical and ankyrin repeat genes are over-represented in the absent/divergent genes, with 21-87 % of absent/divergent genes coming from prophage regions. The only wMel region absent/divergent in all five query strains is that containing WD_0509 to WD_0511, including a DNA mismatch repair protein MutL-2, a degenerate RNase, and a conserved hypothetical protein. A region flanked by the two portions of the WO-B prophage in wMel is found in four of the five Wolbachia strains as well as on a plasmid of a rickettsial endosymbiont of Ixodes scapularis, suggesting lateral gene transfer between these two obligate intracellular species. Overall, these insect-associated Wolbachia have highly mosaic genomes, with lateral gene transfer playing an important role in their diversity and evolution. INTRODUCTIONWolbachia bacteria are common obligate intracellular endosymbionts that infect a wide variety of invertebrates, including arthropods and filarial nematodes. The arthropod-infecting Wolbachia strains are maternally inherited and exert unusual effects on host reproduction, including: (1) parthenogenesis, whereby infected virgin females produce infected female offspring, (2) male killing, whereby infected male embryos fail to develop, (3) feminization, whereby genetic males develop into reproductively capable females, and (4) cytoplasmic incompatibility, the most common phenotype, whereby the offspring of uninfected females and infected males fail to develop (Stouthamer et al., 1999;Werren et al., 2008). These phenotypes increase the number of infected hosts within a population, promoting the frequency of Wolbachia. Although insect-associated Wolbachia are typically considered reproductive parasites, some Abbreviation: mCGH, microarray comparative genome hybridization.3These authors contributed equally to this paper. et al., 2008). In addition to the above nomenclature, another convention has been proposed that combines all genes found in .1 % of strains into a species genome, and any genes in ,1 % of strains are considered of foreign origin or on the decline (Boucher et al., 2001;Lan & Reeves, 2000).In order to examine the core genome and the genetic flux between W. pipientis strains, we examined the genomic content of five strains using microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization (mCGH) on a Wolbachia microarray. DNAs from reference and query organisms are differentially labelled and competitive...

show abstract

Section: Lateral Gene Transfermentioning

confidence: 99%

Extensive genomic diversity of closely related Wolbachia strains

et al. 2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, disease agents coexist with other nonpathogenic members of the diverse bacterial communities that all animals harbor. Entire bacterial communities of insects known to vector bacterial diseases have been described (for example ticks, fleas, and lice), but with very small sample sizes (Reed and Hafner, 2002;Benson et al, 2004;Jones et al, 2008). The bacterial communities of other blood-feeding invertebrates such as mosquitoes and leeches have also been described (Lindh et al, 2005;Worthen et al, 2006); somewhat surprisingly, however, these parasites are not known to vector pathogenic bacterial lineages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacterial communities of disease vectors sampled across time, space, and species

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A common strategy of pathogenic bacteria is to form close associations with parasitic insects that feed on animals and to use these insects as vectors for their own transmission. Pathogens interact closely with other coexisting bacteria within the insect, and interactions between co-occurring bacteria may influence the vector competency of the parasite. Interactions between particular lineages can be explored through measures of a-diversity. Furthermore, general patterns of bacterial community assembly can be explored through measures of b-diversity. Here, we use pyrosequencing (n ¼ 115 924 16S rRNA gene sequences) to describe the bacterial communities of 230 prairie dog fleas sampled across space and time. We use these communinty characterizations to assess interactions between dominant community members and to explore general patterns of bacterial community assembly in fleas. An analysis of co-occurrence patterns suggests non-neutral negative interactions between dominant community members (Po0.001). Furthermore, bacterial communities of fleas shift dramatically across years (phylotype-based: R ¼ 0.829, Po0.001; phylogeneticbased: R ¼ 0.612-0.753, Po0.001), but they also significantly differ across space (phylotype-based: R ¼ 0.418, Po0.001; phylogenetic-based: R ¼ 0.290-0.328, Po0.001) and between flea species (phylotype-based: R ¼ 0.160, P ¼ 0.011; phylogenetic-based: not significant). Collectively, our results show that flea-associated bacterial communities are not random assemblages; rather, an individual flea's bacterial community is governed by interactions between bacterial lineages and by the flea's place in space and time.

show abstract

“…In these cases, the Rickettsia bacterium is inherited by ovarial transmission through host generations with a high fidelity, is detected in host populations at a considerable frequency, and can be regarded as a facultative endosymbiotic associate (9,44). Thus far, such Rickettsia symbionts have been identified from a wide variety of invertebrates such as ladybird beetles (19,43,46), an aphid (6), a leafhopper (10), a bruchid beetle (13), ticks (2,30), leeches (21), and others.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rickettsia Symbiont in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum : Novel Cellular Tropism, Effect on Host Fitness, and Interaction with the Essential Symbiont Buchnera

Sakurai

Koga

Tsuchida

et al. 2005

Appl Environ Microbiol

224

248

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In natural populations of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, a facultative bacterial symbiont of the genus Rickettsia has been detected at considerable infection frequencies worldwide. We investigated the effects of the Rickettsia symbiont on the host aphid and also on the coexisting essential symbiont Buchnera. In situ hybridization revealed that the Rickettsia symbiont was specifically localized in two types of host cells specialized for endosymbiosis: secondary mycetocytes and sheath cells. Electron microscopy identified bacterial rods, about 2 m long and 0.5 m thick, in sheath cells of Rickettsia-infected aphids. Virus-like particles were sometimes observed in association with the bacterial cells. By an antibiotic treatment, we generated Rickettsia-infected and Rickettsia-eliminated aphid strains with an identical genetic background. Comparison of these strains revealed that Rickettsia infection negatively affected some components of the host fitness. Quantitative PCR analysis of the bacterial population dynamics identified a remarkable interaction between the coexisting symbionts: Buchnera population was significantly suppressed in the presence of Rickettsia, particularly at the young adult stage, when the aphid most actively reproduces. On the basis of these results, we discussed the possible mechanisms that enable the prevalence of Rickettsia infection in natural host populations in spite of the negative fitness effects observed in the laboratory.

show abstract

Intracellular Symbionts and Other Bacteria Associated with Deer Ticks (Ixodes scapularis) from Nantucket and Wellfleet, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Cited by 121 publications

References 38 publications

Extensive genomic diversity of closely related Wolbachia strains

Extensive genomic diversity of closely related Wolbachia strains

Bacterial communities of disease vectors sampled across time, space, and species

Rickettsia Symbiont in the Pea Aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum : Novel Cellular Tropism, Effect on Host Fitness, and Interaction with the Essential Symbiont Buchnera

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About