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PMID: 16783009 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Heritable endosymbionts of Drosophila.

Genetics ·Vol. 174 ·No. 1 ·2006-09-00 ·Pages 363-76

Mateos M, Castrezana SJ, Nankivell BJ, Estes AM, Markow TA, Moran NA

Abstract

Although heritable microorganisms are increasingly recognized as widespread in insects, no systematic screens for such symbionts have been conducted in Drosophila species (the primary insect genetic models for studies of evolution, development, and innate immunity). Previous efforts screened relatively few Drosophila lineages, mainly for Wolbachia. We conducted an extensive survey of potentially heritable endosymbionts from any bacterial lineage via PCR screens of mature ovaries in 181 recently collected fly strains representing 35 species from 11 species groups. Due to our fly sampling methods, however, we are likely to have missed fly strains infected with sex ratio-distorting endosymbionts. Only Wolbachia and Spiroplasma, both widespread in insects, were confirmed as symbionts. These findings indicate that in contrast to some other insect groups, other heritable symbionts are uncommon in Drosophila species, possibly reflecting a robust innate immune response that eliminates many bacteria. A more extensive survey targeted these two symbiont types through diagnostic PCR in 1225 strains representing 225 species from 32 species groups. Of these, 19 species were infected by Wolbachia while only 3 species had Spiroplasma. Several new strains of Wolbachia and Spiroplasma were discovered, including ones divergent from any reported to date. The phylogenetic distribution of Wolbachia and Spiroplasma in Drosophila is discussed.

MeSH Terms
Animals Bacterial Infections/transmission DNA, Bacterial/analysis Drosophila/genetics,microbiology Female Gene Frequency Genetic Variation Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical Male Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny Spiroplasma/genetics,physiology Symbiosis/genetics Wolbachia/genetics,physiology
Chemicals
DNA, Bacterial
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Mateos Mariana
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA. mmateos@tamu.edu
Castrezana Sergio J
Nankivell Becky J
Estes Anne M
Markow Therese A
Moran Nancy A
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Article Info
Journal
Genetics
Abbr.
Genetics
ISSN
0016-6731
DOI
10.1534/genetics.106.058818
Email
mmateos@tamu.edu
Published
2006-09-00
Epub
2006-00-18
Pages
363-76
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0374636
PMCID
PMC1569794
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
DQ412080, DQ412081, DQ412082, DQ412083, DQ412084, DQ412085, DQ412086, DQ412087, DQ412088, DQ412089, DQ412090, DQ412091, DQ412092, DQ412093, DQ412094, DQ412095, DQ412096, DQ412097, DQ412098, DQ412099, DQ412100, DQ412101, DQ412102, DQ412103, DQ412104, DQ412105, DQ412106, DQ412107, DQ412108, DQ412109, DQ412110, DQ412111
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1534/genetics.106.058818 PMC Full Text View journal details
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