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Wolbachia mediate variation of host immunocompetence.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: After decades during which endosymbionts were considered as silent in their hosts, in particular concerning the immune system, recent studies have revealed the contrary. In the present paper, we addressed the effect of Wolbachia, the most prevalent endosymbiont in arthropods, on host immunocompetence. To this end, we chose the A. vulgare-Wolbachia symbiosis as a model system because it leads to compare consequences of two Wolbachia strains (wVulC and wVulM) on hosts from the same population. Moreover, A. vulgare is the only host-species in which Wolbachia have been directly observed within haemocytes which are responsible for both humoral and cellular immune responses. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We sampled gravid females from the same population that were either asymbiotic, infected with wVulC, or infected with wVulM. The offspring from these females were tested and it was revealed that individuals harbouring wVulC exhibited: (i) lower haemocyte densities, (ii) more intense septicaemia in their haemolymph and (iii) a reduced lifespan as compared to individuals habouring wVulM or asymbiotic ones. Therefore, individuals in this population of A. vulgare appeared to suffer more from wVulC than from wVulM. Symbiotic titer and location in the haemocytes did not differ for the two Wolbachia strains showing that these two parameters were not responsible for differences observed in their extended phenotypes in A. vulgare. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The two Wolbachia strains infecting A. vulgare in the same population induced variation in immunocompetence and survival of their hosts. Such variation should highly influence the dynamics of this host-symbiont system. We propose in accordance with previous population genetic works, that wVulM is a local strain that has attenuated its virulence through a long term adaptation process towards local A. vulgare genotypes whereas wVulC, which is a widespread and invasive strain, is not locally adapted.

SUBMITTER: Braquart-Varnier C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2546445 | biostudies-literature | 2008

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Wolbachia mediate variation of host immunocompetence.

Braquart-Varnier Christine C Lachat Marion M Herbinière Juline J Johnson Monique M Caubet Yves Y Bouchon Didier D Sicard Mathieu M

PloS one 20080926 9

<h4>Background</h4>After decades during which endosymbionts were considered as silent in their hosts, in particular concerning the immune system, recent studies have revealed the contrary. In the present paper, we addressed the effect of Wolbachia, the most prevalent endosymbiont in arthropods, on host immunocompetence. To this end, we chose the A. vulgare-Wolbachia symbiosis as a model system because it leads to compare consequences of two Wolbachia strains (wVulC and wVulM) on hosts from the s ...[more]

PMID: 18818770

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Project description:BackgroundThe gut microbiota influences host performance playing a relevant role in homeostasis and function of the immune system. The aim of the present work was to identify microbial signatures linked to immunity traits and to characterize the contribution of host-genome and gut microbiota to the immunocompetence in healthy pigs.ResultsTo achieve this goal, we undertook a combination of network, mixed model and microbial-wide association studies (MWAS) for 21 immunity traits and the relative abundance of gut bacterial communities in 389 pigs genotyped for 70K SNPs. The heritability (h2; proportion of phenotypic variance explained by the host genetics) and microbiability (m2; proportion of variance explained by the microbial composition) showed similar values for most of the analyzed immunity traits, except for both IgM and IgG in plasma that was dominated by the host genetics, and the haptoglobin in serum which was the trait with larger m2 (0.275) compared to h2 (0.138). Results from the MWAS suggested a polymicrobial nature of the immunocompetence in pigs and revealed associations between pigs gut microbiota composition and 15 of the analyzed traits. The lymphocytes phagocytic capacity (quantified as mean fluorescence) and the total number of monocytes in blood were the traits associated with the largest number of taxa (6 taxa). Among the associations identified by MWAS, 30% were confirmed by an information theory network approach. The strongest confirmed associations were between Fibrobacter and phagocytic capacity of lymphocytes (r = 0.37), followed by correlations between Streptococcus and the percentage of phagocytic lymphocytes (r = -0.34) and between Megasphaera and serum concentration of haptoglobin (r = 0.26). In the interaction network, Streptococcus and percentage of phagocytic lymphocytes were the keystone bacterial and immune-trait, respectively.ConclusionsOverall, our findings reveal an important connection between gut microbiota composition and immunity traits in pigs, and highlight the need to consider both sources of information, host genome and microbial levels, to accurately characterize immunocompetence in pigs.

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Wolbachia mediate variation of host immunocompetence.

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Wolbachia mediate variation of host immunocompetence.

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