Replacement of the natural Wolbachia symbiont of Drosophila simulans with a mosquito counterpart

Inherited rickettsial symbionts of the genus Wolbachia occur commonly in arthropods and have been implicated in the expression of parthenogenesis, feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility phenomena in their respective hosts. Here we use purified Wolbachia from the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes alb...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1994-02, Vol.367 (6462), p.453-455
Main Authors: Braig, H.R, Guzman, H, Tesh, R.B, O'Neill, S.L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aedes - microbiology
Aedes albopictus
Animals
Aquatic insects
Bacteria
Bacteriology
Biological and medical sciences
Crosses, Genetic
DNA, Mitochondrial - analysis
Drosophila - microbiology
Drosophila simulans
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic engineering
Genetics
Insects
Male
Microbiology
Mosquitoes
parthenogenesis
Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length
Reproduction - physiology
Rickettsia - genetics
Rickettsia - physiology
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics
symbionts
Symbiosis
transfer
Wolbachia
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Summary:Inherited rickettsial symbionts of the genus Wolbachia occur commonly in arthropods and have been implicated in the expression of parthenogenesis, feminization and cytoplasmic incompatibility phenomena in their respective hosts. Here we use purified Wolbachia from the Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, to replace the natural infection of Drosophila simulans by means of embryonic microinjection techniques. The transferred Wolbachia infection behaves like a natural Drosophila infection with regard to its inheritance, cytoskeleton interactions and ability to induce incompatibility when crossed with uninfected flies. The transinfected flies are bidirectionally incompatible with all other naturally infected strains of Drosophila simulans, however, and as such represent a unique crossing type. The successful transfer of this symbiont between distantly related hosts suggests that it may be possible to introduce this agent experimentally into arthropod species of medical and agricultural importance in order to manipulate natural populations genetically.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/367453a0