Wolbachia-density variation in weevils of the tribe Naupactini (Coleoptera, Curculionidae)

The intracellular bacteria Wolbachia pipientis infects arthropods and filarial nematodes and is able to manipulate host reproduction. It has been reported an association between parthenogenesis and Wolbachia infection in weevils from the tribe Naupactini. A curing experiment suggested that a thresho...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSymbiosis (Philadelphia, Pa.) Vol. 92; no. 1; pp. 125 - 135
Main Authors da Cruz Cabral, Lucía, Fernandez Goya, Lucía, Piccinali, Romina V., Lanteri, Analía A., Confalonieri, Viviana A., Rodriguero, Marcela S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.01.2024
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Developmental Biology
Ecology
Evolutionary Biology
Horizontal transfer
Infections
Life Sciences
Microbiology
Naupactini
Parthenogenesis
Plant Sciences
Reproduction
Wolbachia
Parthenogenesis
Naupactini
density
Weevils
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Summary:The intracellular bacteria Wolbachia pipientis infects arthropods and filarial nematodes and is able to manipulate host reproduction. It has been reported an association between parthenogenesis and Wolbachia infection in weevils from the tribe Naupactini. A curing experiment suggested that a threshold density of Wolbachia is required for parthenogenetic reproduction to occur. The aim of this study was to analyze Wolbachia infection status and density in two sexually reproducing species from the tribe Naupactini, Naupactus xanthographus and Naupactus dissimulator . Wolbachia infection was detected in individuals from both species in several geographic locations, not being fixed. Quantification through real time PCR confirmed that Wolbachia loads in sexual species were significantly lower than in parthenogenetic ones; these results support the hypothesis of a threshold level for parthenogenetic reproduction to occur in Naupactini weevils. Strain typing showed that both sexual species carry w Nau1, the most frequent strain in parthenogenetic Naupactini weevils. In addition, the presence of the WO phage, which might be an important factor regulating infection density in some hosts, was detected in this strain. Finally, Wolbachia w Nau1 was located throughout the whole insect body, which is in agreement with the idea of a recent acquisition by horizontal transfer of w Nau1 across the tribe Naupactini.
ISSN:0334-5114
1878-7665
DOI:10.1007/s13199-023-00963-3