Premium
Wolbachia infection in crustaceans: novel hosts and potential routes for horizontal transmission
Author(s) -
Cordaux R.,
MichelSalzat A.,
Bouchon D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
journal of evolutionary biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.289
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1420-9101
pISSN - 1010-061X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00279.x
Subject(s) - wolbachia , biology , crustacean , horizontal transmission , host (biology) , zoology , predation , horizontal gene transfer , isopoda , ecology , clade , phylogenetic tree , predator , virology , gene , virus , genetics
Thirty‐five percent of isopods are estimated to be infected by Wolbachia , an intracellular maternally inherited α ‐ Proteobacterium . Previous studies have indicated that horizontal transfer of Wolbachia strains may occur, although the mechanisms are unclear. The wsp gene was sequenced from 17 Wolbachia strains harboured by crustacean host species and three from their associated predators and parasites. Two major clades of Wolbachia were found in crustacean, with relatives also found in insects, the other restricted to crustaceans. Highly divergent Wolbachia strains were found in a woodlouse‐eating spider and its prey, suggesting no intertaxon bacterial exchange via the predator–prey route. The phylogenetic proximity of Wolbachia from parasitoid flies or phoretic mites to those from isopods suggests that horizontal symbiont transmission may have occurred between those taxa. Two distant Wolbachia strains were detected in two intertidal amphipods; these strains were closely related to different coastal isopod symbionts, suggesting Wolbachia transmission may occur between distantly related crustacean hosts living under the same ecological conditions.