The intracellular bacterium Wolbachia uses parasitoid wasps as phoretic vectors for efficient horizontal transmission.

ABSTRACT: Facultative bacterial endosymbionts are associated with many arthropods and are primarily transmitted vertically from mother to offspring. However, phylogenetic affiliations suggest that horizontal transmission must also occur. Such horizontal transfer can have important biological and agricultural consequences when endosymbionts increase host fitness. So far horizontal transmission is considered rare and has been difficult to document. Here, we use fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and multi locus sequence typing (MLST) to reveal a potentially common pathway of horizontal transmission of endosymbionts via parasitoids of insects. We illustrate that the mouthparts and ovipositors of an aphelinid parasitoid become contaminated with Wolbachia when this wasp feeds on or probes Wolbachi

SUBMITTER: Ahmed MZ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4347858 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature