TY - JOUR

T1 - Wolbachia symbionts in mosquitoes

T2 - Intra- and intersupergroup recombinations, horizontal transmission and evolution

AU - Shaikevich, Elena

AU - Bogacheva, Anna

AU - Rakova, Vera

AU - Ganushkina, Ludmila

AU - Ilinsky, Yury

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Elsevier Inc.

PY - 2019/5/1

Y1 - 2019/5/1

N2 - Many mosquitoes harbour Wolbachia symbionts that could affect the biology of their host in different ways. Evolutionary relationships of mosquitoes’ Wolbachia infection, geographical distribution and symbiont prevalence in many mosquito species are not yet clear. Here, we present the results of Wolbachia screening of 17 mosquito species of four genera—Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia and Culex collected from five regions of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus in 2012–2016. Based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data previously published and generated in this study, we try to reveal genetic links between mosquitoes’ and other hosts’ Wolbachia. The Wolbachia symbionts are found in Culex pipiens, Aedes albopictus and Coquillettidia richiardii and for the first time in Aedes cinereus and Aedes cantans, which are important vectors of human pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated multiple origins of infection in mosquitoes although the one-allele-criterion approach revealed links among B-supergroup mosquito Wolbachia with allele content of lepidopteran hosts. The MLST gene content of strain wAlbA from the A-supergroup is linked with different ant species. Several cases of intersupergroup recombinations were found. One of them occurred in the wAlbaB strain of Aedes albopictus, which contains the coxA allele of the A-supergroup, whereas other loci, including wsp, belong to supergroup B. Other cases are revealed for non-mosquito symbionts and they exemplified genetic exchanges of A, B and F supergroups. We conclude that modern Wolbachia diversity in mosquitoes and in many other insect taxa is a recent product of strain recombination and symbiont transfers.

AB - Many mosquitoes harbour Wolbachia symbionts that could affect the biology of their host in different ways. Evolutionary relationships of mosquitoes’ Wolbachia infection, geographical distribution and symbiont prevalence in many mosquito species are not yet clear. Here, we present the results of Wolbachia screening of 17 mosquito species of four genera—Aedes, Anopheles, Coquillettidia and Culex collected from five regions of Eastern Europe and the Caucasus in 2012–2016. Based on multilocus sequence typing (MLST) data previously published and generated in this study, we try to reveal genetic links between mosquitoes’ and other hosts’ Wolbachia. The Wolbachia symbionts are found in Culex pipiens, Aedes albopictus and Coquillettidia richiardii and for the first time in Aedes cinereus and Aedes cantans, which are important vectors of human pathogens. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated multiple origins of infection in mosquitoes although the one-allele-criterion approach revealed links among B-supergroup mosquito Wolbachia with allele content of lepidopteran hosts. The MLST gene content of strain wAlbA from the A-supergroup is linked with different ant species. Several cases of intersupergroup recombinations were found. One of them occurred in the wAlbaB strain of Aedes albopictus, which contains the coxA allele of the A-supergroup, whereas other loci, including wsp, belong to supergroup B. Other cases are revealed for non-mosquito symbionts and they exemplified genetic exchanges of A, B and F supergroups. We conclude that modern Wolbachia diversity in mosquitoes and in many other insect taxa is a recent product of strain recombination and symbiont transfers.

KW - Horizontal transmission

KW - MLST

KW - Mosquitoes

KW - Recombination

KW - Wolbachia

KW - Wsp

KW - BACTERIA

KW - DIPTERA

KW - CYTOPLASMIC INCOMPATIBILITY

KW - MITOCHONDRIAL-DNA

KW - SEQUENCE

KW - MITES

KW - INFECTION

KW - DIVERSITY

KW - ENDOSYMBIONT

KW - STRAIN

KW - Species Specificity

KW - Aedes/microbiology

KW - Humans

KW - Wolbachia/genetics

KW - Databases, Genetic

KW - Phylogeny

KW - Multilocus Sequence Typing

KW - Haplotypes/genetics

KW - Anopheles/genetics

KW - Recombination, Genetic

KW - Symbiosis

KW - Gene Transfer, Horizontal

KW - Biological Evolution

KW - Culicidae/microbiology

KW - Animals

KW - Mosquito Vectors/microbiology

KW - Alleles

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060858153&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.01.020

DO - 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.01.020

M3 - Article

C2 - 30708172

AN - SCOPUS:85060858153

VL - 134

SP - 24

EP - 34

JO - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

JF - Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

SN - 1055-7903

ER -