Unexpected diversity of Wolbachia Associated with Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Africa
View/ Open
Date
2019Author
Gichuhi, Joseph
Van den Berg, Johnnie
Khamis, Fathiya M.
Ekesi, Sunday
Herren, Jeremy K.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
: Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is an important pest of fruit-bearing plants in many countries
worldwide. In Africa, this pest has spread rapidly and has become widely established since the first
invasion report in 2003. Wolbachia is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont that can significantly
influence aspects of the biology and, in particular, the reproduction of its host. In this study,
we screened B. dorsalis specimens collected from several locations in Africa between 2005 and 2017 for
Wolbachia using a PCR-based assay to target the Wolbachia surface protein wsp. Of the 357 individuals
tested, 10 were positive for Wolbachia using the wsp assay. We identified four strains of Wolbachia
infecting two B. dorsalis mitochondrial haplotypes. We found no strict association between the
infecting strain and host haplotype, with one strain being present in two different host haplotypes.
All the detected strains belonged to Super Group B Wolbachia and did not match any strains reported
previously in B. dorsalis in Asia. These findings indicate that diverse Wolbachia infections are present
in invasive populations of B. dorsalis.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/33054https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/10/6/155/pdf
https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10060155