The obligate mutualist Wigglesworthia glossinidia influences reproduction, digestion, and immunity processes of its host, the tsetse fly.

ABSTRACT: Tsetse flies (Diptera: Glossinidae) are vectors for trypanosome parasites, the agents of the deadly sleeping sickness disease in Africa. Tsetse also harbor two maternally transmitted enteric mutualist endosymbionts: the primary intracellular obligate Wigglesworthia glossinidia and the secondary commensal Sodalis glossinidius. Both endosymbionts are transmitted to the intrauterine progeny through the milk gland secretions of the viviparous female. We administered various antibiotics either continuously by per os supplementation of the host blood meal diet or discretely by hemocoelic injections into fertile females in an effort to selectively eliminate the symbionts to study their individual functions. A symbiont-specific PCR amplification assay and fluorescence in situ hybridization analysi

SUBMITTER: Pais R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2565960 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature