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Wolbachia, normally a symbiont of Drosophila, can be virulent, causing degeneration and early death.

ABSTRACT: Wolbachia, a maternally transmitted microorganism of the Rickettsial family, is known to cause cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, or feminization in various insect species. The bacterium-host relationship is usually symbiotic: incompatibility between infected males and uninfected females can enhance reproductive isolation and evolution, whereas the other mechanisms enhance progeny production. We have discovered a variant Wolbachia carried by Drosophila melanogaster in which this cozy relationship is abrogated. Although quiescent during the fly's development, it begins massive proliferation in the adult, causing widespread degeneration of tissues, including brain, retina, and muscle, culminating in early death. Tetracycline treatment of carrier flies eliminates both the bacteria and the degeneration, restoring normal life-span. The 16s rDNA sequence is over 98% identical to Wolbachia known from other insects. Examination of laboratory strains of D. melanogaster commonly used in genetic experiments reveals that a large proportion actually carry Wolbachia in a nonvirulent form, which might affect their longevity and behavior.

SUBMITTER: Min KT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC23488 | biostudies-literature | 1997 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Wolbachia, normally a symbiont of Drosophila, can be virulent, causing degeneration and early death.

Min K T KT Benzer S S

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 19970901 20

Wolbachia, a maternally transmitted microorganism of the Rickettsial family, is known to cause cytoplasmic incompatibility, parthenogenesis, or feminization in various insect species. The bacterium-host relationship is usually symbiotic: incompatibility between infected males and uninfected females can enhance reproductive isolation and evolution, whereas the other mechanisms enhance progeny production. We have discovered a variant Wolbachia carried by Drosophila melanogaster in which this cozy ...[more]

PMID: 9380712

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Project description:BackgroundWolbachia are bacterial endosymbionts of many arthropod species in which they manipulate reproductive functions. The distribution of these bacteria in the Drosophila ovarian cells at different stages of oogenesis has been amply described. The pathways along which Wolbachia influences Drosophila oogenesis have been, so far, little studied. It is known that Wolbachia are abundant in the somatic stem cell niche of the Drosophila germarium. A checkpoint, where programmed cell death, or apoptosis, can occur, is located in region 2a/2b of the germarium, which comprises niche cells. Here we address the question whether or not the presence of Wolbachia in germarium cells can affect the frequency of cyst apoptosis in the checkpoint.ResultsOur current fluorescent microscopic observations showed that the wMel and wMelPop strains had different effects on female germline cells of D. melanogaster. The Wolbachia strain wMel did not affect the frequency of apoptosis in cells of the germarium. The presence of the Wolbachia strain wMelPop in the D. melanogasterw1118 ovaries increased the number of germaria where cells underwent apoptosis in the checkpoint. Based on the appearance in the electron microscope, there was no difference in morphological features of apoptotic cystocytes between Wolbachia-infected and uninfected flies. Bacteria with normal ultrastructure and large numbers of degenerating bacteria were found in the dying cyst cells.ConclusionsOur current study demonstrated that the Wolbachia strain wMelPop affects the egg chamber formation in the D. melanogaster ovaries. This led to an increase in the number of germaria containing apoptotic cells. It is suggested that Wolbachia can adversely interfere either with the cystocyte differentiation into the oocyte or with the division of somatic stem cells giving rise to follicle cells and, as a consequence, to improper ratio of germline cells to follicle cells and, ultimately, to apoptosis of cysts. There was no similar adverse effect in D. melanogaster Canton S infected with the Wolbachia strain wMel. This was taken to mean that the observed increase in frequency of apoptosis was not the general effect of Wolbachia on germline cells of D. melanogaster, it was rather induced by the virulent Wolbachia strain wMelPop.

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Wolbachia, normally a symbiont of Drosophila, can be virulent, causing degeneration and early death.

Publications

Wolbachia, normally a symbiont of Drosophila, can be virulent, causing degeneration and early death.

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