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Evidence for a recent horizontal transmission and spatial spread of W olbachia from endemic R hagoletis cerasi ( D iptera: T ephritidae) to invasive R hagoletis cingulata in E urope
Author(s) -
Schuler Hannes,
Bertheau Coralie,
Egan Scott P.,
Feder Jeffrey L.,
Riegler Markus,
SchlickSteiner Birgit C.,
Steiner Florian M.,
Johannesen Jes,
Kern Peter,
Tuba Katalin,
Lakatos Ferenc,
Köppler Kirsten,
Arthofer Wolfgang,
Stauffer Christian
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.12362
Subject(s) - biology , transmission (telecommunications) , computer science , telecommunications
The widespread occurrence of W olbachia in arthropods and nematodes suggests that this intracellular, maternally inherited endosymbiont has the ability to cross species boundaries. However, direct evidence for such a horizontal transmission of W olbachia in nature is scarce. Here, we compare the well‐characterized W olbachia infection of the E uropean cherry fruit fly, R hagoletis cerasi , with that of the N orth A merican eastern cherry fruit fly, R hagoletis cingulata , recently introduced to E urope. Molecular genetic analysis of W olbachia based on multilocus sequence typing and the W olbachia surface protein wsp showed that all R . cingulata individuals are infected with w Cin2 identical to w Cer2 in R . cerasi . In contrast, w Cin1, a strain identical to w Cer1 in R . cerasi , was present in several E uropean populations of R . cingulata , but not in any individual from the U nited S tates. Surveys of R . cingulata from G ermany and H ungary indicated that in some populations, the frequency of w Cin1 increased significantly in just a few years with at least two independent horizontal transmission events. This is corroborated by the analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II gene that showed association of w Cin1 with two distinct haplotypes in G ermany, one of which is also infected with w Cin1 in H ungary. In summary, our study provides strong evidence for a very recent inter‐specific W olbachia transmission with a subsequent spatial spread in field populations.