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Generation of Monoclonal Cultures from Wolbachia-infected Drosophila melanogaster JW18 Cell Line
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How Long Does Wolbachia Remain on Board?

Marc Bailly-Bechet1, Patricia Martins-Simões1,2, Gergely J Szöllosi3

  • 1Laboratoire de Biométrie & Biologie Evolutive, CNRS, Université Lyon 1, Villeurbanne, France.

Molecular Biology and Evolution
|February 16, 2017
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Summary

Wolbachia bacteria, infecting many arthropods, spread mainly through mothers. Horizontal transfers and extinctions occur, but the current global incidence of Wolbachia appears to be at an epidemiological equilibrium.

Keywords:
Wolbachiaarthropodsevolutionary dynamicshorizontal transfersymbiosis

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Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Wolbachia bacteria infect approximately 50% of arthropod species.
  • Phenotypic effects like sex-ratio distortion and virus protection, plus vertical transmission, explain within-species spread.
  • Phylogenetic incongruence suggests horizontal transfer and extinction events drive global Wolbachia distribution.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the frequency of Wolbachia horizontal transfer and extinction events.
  • To determine if the global Wolbachia pandemic has reached an epidemiological equilibrium.

Main Methods:

  • Inferred recent Wolbachia acquisition/loss events.
  • Analyzed Wolbachia lineage distribution across the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) tree.
  • Sampled 3,600 arthropod specimens from 1,100 species in Tahiti and surrounding islands.
  • Used Bayesian time calibration of the mtDNA tree.

Main Results:

  • Most Wolbachia transfer/extinction events occurred within the last million years.
  • Events are attributed more to imperfect maternal transmission than population-level extinction.
  • Estimated mtDNA substitution rates: 4.7% during infection, 7.1% during uninfected phases.
  • Estimated infected/uninfected phase durations: ~7 million and ~9 million years, respectively.
  • Wolbachia loss in infected species slightly exceeds acquisition in uninfected species.

Conclusions:

  • Wolbachia dynamics are influenced by individual-level variation in transmission.
  • The current global incidence of Wolbachia, below 0.5, suggests an epidemiological equilibrium.
  • The long estimated durations of infected/uninfected phases indicate stable, long-term associations.