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Tracing horizontal W olbachia movements among bees ( A nthophila): a combined approach using multilocus sequence typing data and host phylogeny
Author(s) -
Gerth Michael,
Röthe Juliane,
Bleidorn Christoph
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.12549
Subject(s) - biology , horizontal transmission , phylogenetics , phylogenetic tree , horizontal gene transfer , evolutionary biology , host (biology) , coevolution , multilocus sequence typing , coalescent theory , taxon , parallel evolution , ecology , zoology , genetics , gene , virus , genotype
The endosymbiotic bacterium W olbachia enhances its spread via vertical transmission by generating reproductive effects in its hosts, most notably cytoplasmic incompatibility ( CI ). Additionally, frequent interspecific horizontal transfer is evident from a lack of phylogenetic congruence between W olbachia and its hosts. The mechanisms of this lateral transfer are largely unclear. To identify potential pathways of W olbachia movements, we performed multilocus sequence typing of W olbachia strains from bees ( A nthophila). Using a host phylogeny and ecological data, we tested various models of horizontal endosymbiont transmission. In general, W olbachia strains seem to be randomly distributed among bee hosts. Kleptoparasite‐host associations among bees as well as other ecological links could not be supported as sole basis for the spread of W olbachia . However, cophylogenetic analyses and divergence time estimations suggest that W olbachia may persist within a host lineage over considerable timescales and that strictly vertical transmission and subsequent random loss of infections across lineages may have had a greater impact on W olbachia strain distribution than previously estimated. Although general conclusions about W olbachia movements among arthropod hosts cannot be made, we present a framework by which precise assumptions about shared evolutionary histories of W olbachia and a host taxon can be modelled and tested.