Screening of spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) for reproductive endosymbionts reveals links between co-infection and evolutionary history.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive endosymbionts have been shown to have wide-ranging effects on many aspects of their hosts' biology. A first step to understanding how these endosymbionts interact with their hosts is to determine their incidences. Here, we screened for four reproductive endosymbionts (Wolbachia, Cardinium, Spiroplasma and Rickettsia) in 28 populations of spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) representing 12 species. Each of the four endosymbionts were identified in at least some of the tested specimens, and their infection patterns showed variations at the species-level and population-level, suggesting their distributions can be correlated with both the phylogeny and ecology of the hosts. Co-infections of unrelated bacteria, especially double infections of Wolbachia and Cardinium within the same

SUBMITTER: Zhang YK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4904281 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature