Longicorn beetle that vectors pinewood nematode carries many Wolbachia genes on an autosome.

ABSTRACT: Monochamus alternatus is the longicorn beetle notorious as a vector of the pinewood nematode that causes the pine wilt disease. When two populations of M. alternatus were subjected to diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) detection of four Wolbachia genes, only the ftsZ gene was detected from one of the populations. The Wolbachia ftsZ gene persisted even after larvae were fed with a tetracycline-containing diet for six weeks. The inheritance of the ftsZ gene was not maternal but biparental, exhibiting a typical Mendelian pattern. The ftsZ gene titres in homozygotic ftsZ(+) insects were nearly twice as high as those in heterozygotic ftsZ(+) insects. Exhaustive PCR surveys revealed that 31 and 30 of 214 Wolbachia genes examined were detected from the two insect populations, respectively

SUBMITTER: Aikawa T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2817283 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature