Dynamics of an Ongoing Wolbachia Spread in the European Cherry Fruit Fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (Diptera: Tephritidae)

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 10; no. 6; p. 172
• Main Authors: Schebeck, Martin, Feldkirchner, Lukas, Stauffer, Christian, Schuler, Hannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 14.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: agricultural pest; Arthropods; bacterial spread; Cytoplasmic incompatibility; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; endosymbiont; Females; Fruit flies; Fruits; Geography; Haplotypes; horizontal transfer; Incompatibility; Infections; Insects; maternal transmission; Mitochondria; Offspring; Population; Population studies; Populations; reproductive manipulation; Rhagoletis cerasi; Soil sciences; Terrestrial environments; Wolbachia; Central Europe; bacterial spread; agricultural pest; horizontal transfer; reproductive manipulation; endosymbiont; maternal transmission; cytoplasmic incompatibility
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects10060172

Numerous terrestrial arthropods are infected with the alphaproteobacterium This endosymbiont is usually transmitted vertically from infected females to their offspring and can alter the reproduction of hosts through various manipulations, like cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), enhancing its spread in new host populations. Studies on the spatial and temporal dynamics of under natural conditions are scarce. Here, we analyzed infection frequencies in populations of the European cherry fruit fly, (L.), in central Germany-an area of an ongoing spread of the CI-inducing strain Cer2. In total, 295 individuals from 19 populations were PCR-screened for the presence of Cer2 and their mitochondrial haplotype. Results were compared with historic data to understand the infection dynamics of the ongoing Cer2 invasion. An overall Cer2 infection frequency of about 30% was found, ranging from 0% to 100% per population. In contrast to an expected smooth transition from Cer2-infected to completely Cer2-uninfected populations, a relatively scattered infection pattern across geography was observed. Moreover, a strong -haplotype association was detected, with only a few rare misassociations. Our results show a complex dynamic of an ongoing spread in natural field populations of .