title: Wolbachia infection in the newly described Ecuadorian sand flea, Tunga trimamillata.
abstract: Wolbachia pipientis is an intracellular endosymbiont producing reproductive alterations in its hosts. This bacterium have been reported in many arthropods and nematodes. By PCR amplification and sequencing of the 16S rDNA and ftsZ genes we have identified a Wolbachia strain in the newly described sand-flea, Tunga trimamillata. Prevalence of this endosymbiont in the 26 individuals screened is equal to 35%. Sympatric and allopatric specimens of the related species Tunga penetrans were also analysed, but in contrast to literature data, Wolbachia appears absent in the presently analysed 24 specimens. Field studies evidence a female-biased sex-ratio in T. trimamillata, suggesting that Wolbachia may cause sex-ratio distortion in this species. By means of BLAST search and phylogenetic analysis we found that the Wolbachia strain from T. trimamillata pertains to the arthropod-infecting Wolbachia; this strain is highly differentiated from the Wolbachia strain of T. penetrans described in literature.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. barman@alma.unibo.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luchetti
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mantovani
authors.forename: Maria Letizia
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fioravanti
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trentini
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis*; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics*; D012098:Reproduction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012744:Sex Ratio; D005423:Siphonaptera / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D013559:Symbiosis; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; C071525:FtsZ protein, Bacteria; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S