Further evidence of low infection frequencies of Wolbachia in soil arthropod communities

IF 2.6 4区医学 Q3 INFECTIOUS DISEASES Infection Genetics and Evolution Pub Date : 2024-07-14 DOI:10.1016/j.meegid.2024.105641

Marta Tischer, Christoph Bleidorn

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Abstract

Endosymbiotic Alphaproteobacteria of the genus Wolbachia are exclusively transferred maternally from mother to offspring, but horizontal transfer across species boundaries seems to be frequent as well. However, the (ecological) mechanisms of how these bacteria are transferred between distantly related arthropod hosts remain unclear. Based on the observation that species that are part of the same ecological community often also share similar Wolbachia strains, host ecology has been hypothesized as an important factor enabling transmission and a key factor in explaining the global distribution of Wolbachia lineages.

In this study, we focus on the diversity and abundance of Wolbachia strains in soil arthropods, a so far rather neglected community. We screened 82 arthropod morphotypes collected in the beech forest (dominated by Fagus sp.) soil in the area of Göttingen in central Germany for the presence of Wolbachia. By performing a PCR screen with Wolbachia-MLST markers (coxA, dnaA, fbpA, ftsZ, gatB, and hcpA), we found a rather low infection frequency of 12,2%. Additionally, we performed metagenomic screening of pooled individuals from the same sampling site and could not find evidence that this low infection frequency is an artefact due to PCR-primer bias. Phylogenetic analyses of the recovered Wolbachia strains grouped them in three known supergroups (A, B, and E), with the first report of Wolbachia in Protura (Hexapoda). Moreover, Wolbachia sequences from the pseudoscorpion Neobisium carcinoides cluster outside the currently known supergroup diversity. Our screening supports results from previous studies that the prevalence of Wolbachia infections seems to be lower in soil habitats than in above-ground terrestrial habitats. The reasons for this pattern are not completely understood but might stem from the low opportunity of physical contact and the prevalence of supergroups that are less suited for horizontal transfer.

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进一步证明土壤节肢动物群落中沃尔巴克氏菌的感染频率较低。

沃尔巴奇（Wolbachia）属的内共生嗜阿尔法蛋白细菌（Alphaproteobacteria）只通过母体转移给后代，但跨越物种边界的水平转移似乎也很频繁。然而，这些细菌如何在亲缘关系较远的节肢动物宿主之间转移的（生态）机制仍不清楚。根据观察，属于同一生态群落的物种往往也分享相似的沃尔巴克氏菌菌株，因此宿主生态学被假定为促成传播的重要因素，也是解释沃尔巴克氏菌系全球分布的关键因素。在本研究中，我们重点研究了土壤节肢动物中狼杆菌菌株的多样性和丰度，这是一个迄今为止被忽视的群体。我们筛选了在德国中部哥廷根地区山毛榉林（以法桐为主）土壤中采集的 82 种节肢动物形态，以确定是否存在沃尔巴奇菌。通过使用 Wolbachia-MLST 标记（coxA、dnaA、fbpA、ftsZ、gatB 和 hcpA）进行 PCR 筛选，我们发现感染频率相当低，仅为 12.2%。此外，我们对来自同一采样点的集合个体进行了元基因组筛选，没有发现证据表明这种低感染频率是由于 PCR-引物偏差造成的假象。我们对回收的沃尔巴克氏体菌株进行了系统进化分析，将它们归入三个已知的超群（A、B 和 E），并首次报道了原尾目（六足纲）中的沃尔巴克氏体。此外，来自伪蝎子 Neobisium carcinoides 的沃尔巴克氏体序列在目前已知的超群多样性之外。我们的筛选结果支持了之前的研究结果，即土壤栖息地的沃尔巴克氏体感染率似乎低于地面陆生栖息地。这种模式的原因尚不完全清楚，但可能是由于物理接触的机会较少，以及不适合水平传播的超群的普遍存在。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Infection Genetics and Evolution 医学-传染病学

CiteScore

8.40

自引率

0.00%

发文量

215

审稿时长

82 days

期刊介绍： (aka Journal of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics of Infectious Diseases -- MEEGID) Infectious diseases constitute one of the main challenges to medical science in the coming century. The impressive development of molecular megatechnologies and of bioinformatics have greatly increased our knowledge of the evolution, transmission and pathogenicity of infectious diseases. Research has shown that host susceptibility to many infectious diseases has a genetic basis. Furthermore, much is now known on the molecular epidemiology, evolution and virulence of pathogenic agents, as well as their resistance to drugs, vaccines, and antibiotics. Equally, research on the genetics of disease vectors has greatly improved our understanding of their systematics, has increased our capacity to identify target populations for control or intervention, and has provided detailed information on the mechanisms of insecticide resistance. However, the genetics and evolutionary biology of hosts, pathogens and vectors have tended to develop as three separate fields of research. This artificial compartmentalisation is of concern due to our growing appreciation of the strong co-evolutionary interactions among hosts, pathogens and vectors. Infection, Genetics and Evolution and its companion congress [MEEGID](http://www.meegidconference.com/) (for Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics of Infectious Diseases) are the main forum acting for the cross-fertilization between evolutionary science and biomedical research on infectious diseases. Infection, Genetics and Evolution is the only journal that welcomes articles dealing with the genetics and evolutionary biology of hosts, pathogens and vectors, and coevolution processes among them in relation to infection and disease manifestation. All infectious models enter the scope of the journal, including pathogens of humans, animals and plants, either parasites, fungi, bacteria, viruses or prions. The journal welcomes articles dealing with genetics, population genetics, genomics, postgenomics, gene expression, evolutionary biology, population dynamics, mathematical modeling and bioinformatics. We also provide many author benefits, such as free PDFs, a liberal copyright policy, special discounts on Elsevier publications and much more. Please click here for more information on our author services .