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Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina).

ABSTRACT: Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic ?-Proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia is able to induce reproductive abnormalities such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing, thus affecting biology, ecology and evolution of its hosts. The bacterial group has prompted research regarding its potential for the control of agricultural and medical disease vectors, including Glossina spp., which transmits African trypanosomes, the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals.In the present study, we employed a Wolbachia specific 16S rRNA PCR assay to investigate the presence of Wolbachia in six different laboratory stocks as well as in natural populations of nine different Glossina species originating from 10 African countries. Wolbachia was prevalent in Glossina morsitans morsitans, G. morsitans centralis and G. austeni populations. It was also detected in G. brevipalpis, and, for the first time, in G. pallidipes and G. palpalis gambiensis. On the other hand, Wolbachia was not found in G. p. palpalis, G. fuscipes fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Wolbachia infections of different laboratory and natural populations of Glossina species were characterized using 16S rRNA, the wsp (Wolbachia Surface Protein) gene and MLST (Multi Locus Sequence Typing) gene markers. This analysis led to the detection of horizontal gene transfer events, in which Wobachia genes were inserted into the tsetse flies fly nuclear genome.Wolbachia infections were detected in both laboratory and natural populations of several different Glossina species. The characterization of these Wolbachia strains promises to lead to a deeper insight in tsetse flies-Wolbachia interactions, which is essential for the development and use of Wolbachia-based biological control methods.

SUBMITTER: Doudoumis V

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3287514 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina).

Doudoumis Vangelis V Tsiamis George G Wamwiri Florence F Brelsfoard Corey C Alam Uzma U Aksoy Emre E Dalaperas Stelios S Abd-Alla Adly A Ouma Johnson J Takac Peter P Aksoy Serap S Bourtzis Kostas K

BMC microbiology 20120118

<h4>Background</h4>Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic α-Proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia is able to induce reproductive abnormalities such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing, thus affecting biology, ecology and evolution of its hosts. The bacterial group has prompted research regarding its potential for the control of agricultural and medical disease vectors, including Glossina sp ...[more]

PMID: 22376025

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Project description:Tsetse flies are vectors of the protozoan parasite African trypanosomes, which cause sleeping sickness disease in humans and nagana in livestock. Although there are no effective vaccines and efficacious drugs against this parasite, vector reduction methods have been successful in curbing the disease, especially for nagana. Potential vector control methods that do not involve use of chemicals is a genetic modification approach where flies engineered to be parasite resistant are allowed to replace their susceptible natural counterparts, and Sterile Insect technique (SIT) where males sterilized by chemical means are released to suppress female fecundity. The success of genetic modification approaches requires identification of strong drive systems to spread the desirable traits and the efficacy of SIT can be enhanced by identification of natural mating incompatibility. One such drive mechanism results from the cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) phenomenon induced by the symbiont Wolbachia. CI can also be used to induce natural mating incompatibility between release males and natural populations. Although Wolbachia infections have been reported in tsetse, it has been a challenge to understand their functional biology as attempts to cure tsetse of Wolbachia infections by antibiotic treatment damages the obligate mutualistic symbiont (Wigglesworthia), without which the flies are sterile. Here, we developed aposymbiotic (symbiont-free) and fertile tsetse lines by dietary provisioning of tetracycline supplemented blood meals with yeast extract, which rescues Wigglesworthia-induced sterility. Our results reveal that Wolbachia infections confer strong CI during embryogenesis in Wolbachia-free (Gmm(Apo)) females when mated with Wolbachia-infected (Gmm(Wt)) males. These results are the first demonstration of the biological significance of Wolbachia infections in tsetse. Furthermore, when incorporated into a mathematical model, our results confirm that Wolbachia can be used successfully as a gene driver. This lays the foundation for new disease control methods including a population replacement approach with parasite resistant flies. Alternatively, the availability of males that are reproductively incompatible with natural populations can enhance the efficacy of the ongoing sterile insect technique (SIT) applications by eliminating the need for chemical irradiation.

Project description:Purpose: The aim was, in the frame of an anti-vector strategy, to use such genes to control Human and/or animal trypanosomiasis. The present objective was to verify whether field tsetse fly gene expression was modified in response to natural infection with trypanosomes as it was when insectary-raised flies were experimentally infected. Method: mRNA from 10 samples of Glossina palpalis (5 non-infected and 5 infected by Trypanosoma congolense s.l.) were sequenced on a high-output flow cell (400M clusters) using the NextSeq® 500/550 High Output v2 150 cycles kit (Illumina), in paired-end 75/75nt mode. The sequenced reads that passed quality filter were mapped onto the genome with the local alignment algorithm subread-align (Liao et al., 2013). Differential analysis was done with the SARTools R package (Varet et al., 2016), which runs separately DESeq2 (Love et al., 2014) and egdeR (Robinson et al., 2010). We identified orthologs between Glossina and Drosophila based on the identification of bidirectional best hits (BBH) using blastp (Altschul et al., 1997), and then made functional enrichment and pathway mapping of these DEGs. Results: Using the RNA-seq approach, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) have been identified in infected versus non-infected tsetse flies, including down-regulated genes and up-regulated genes. Some of the genes, whether down- or up-regulated, were very highly differentially expressed. Down-regulated genes were mainly involved in transcription/translation processes, while up-regulated encoded genes governing amino acid and nucleotide biosynthesis pathways. The data on the molecular cross-talk between the host and the parasite (and the fly microbiome that is always present) recorded when using an experimental biological model have its counterpart in field flies which in turn validates the use of experimental host/parasite couples. Conclusion: This study is the first evaluation of transcriptomic mechanisms related to infection in field tsetse flies. This opens up prospects for vector-based control strategies, and more precisely the blocking of transmission.

Project description:BackgroundRiverine species of tsetse are responsible for most human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) transmission and are also important vectors of animal trypanosomiasis. This study concerns the development of visual control devices for two such species, Glossina fuscipes fuscipes and Glossina tachinoides, at the eastern limits of their continental range. The goal was to determine the most long-lasting, practical and cost-effective visually attractive device that induces the strongest landing responses in these species for use as insecticide-impregnated tools in vector population suppression.Methods and findingsField trials were conducted in different seasons on G. f. fuscipes in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Sudan and on G. tachinoides in Ethiopia to measure the performance of traps and 2D targets of different sizes and colours, with and without chemical baits, at different population densities and under different environmental conditions. Adhesive film was used to enumerate flies at these remote locations to compare trapping efficiencies. The findings show that targets made from black and blue fabrics (either phthalogen or turquoise) covered with adhesive film render them equal to or more efficient than traps at capturing G. f. fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Biconical trap efficiency varied between 25% and 33% for the two species. Smaller 0.25 m×0.25 m phthalogen blue-black targets proved more efficient than the regular 1 m2 target for both species, by over six times for Glossina f. fuscipes and two times for G. tachinoides based on catches per m2. Overall, targets with a higher edge/surface area ratio were more efficient at capturing flies.Conclusions/significanceTaking into account practical considerations and fly preferences for edges and colours, we propose a 0.5×0.75 m blue-black target as a simple cost-effective device for management of G. f. fuscipes and G. tachinoides, impregnated with insecticide for control and covered with adhesive film for population sampling.

Dataset Information

Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina).

Publications

Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina).

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