title: Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in laboratory and natural populations of different species of tsetse flies (genus Glossina).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Wolbachia is a genus of endosymbiotic α-Proteobacteria infecting a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Wolbachia is able to induce reproductive abnormalities such as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), thelytokous parthenogenesis, feminization and male killing, thus affecting biology, ecology and evolution of its hosts. The bacterial group has prompted research regarding its potential for the control of agricultural and medical disease vectors, including Glossina spp., which transmits African trypanosomes, the causative agents of sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in animals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present study, we employed a Wolbachia specific 16S rRNA PCR assay to investigate the presence of Wolbachia in six different laboratory stocks as well as in natural populations of nine different Glossina species originating from 10 African countries. Wolbachia was prevalent in Glossina morsitans morsitans, G. morsitans centralis and G. austeni populations. It was also detected in G. brevipalpis, and, for the first time, in G. pallidipes and G. palpalis gambiensis. On the other hand, Wolbachia was not found in G. p. palpalis, G. fuscipes fuscipes and G. tachinoides. Wolbachia infections of different laboratory and natural populations of Glossina species were characterized using 16S rRNA, the wsp (Wolbachia Surface Protein) gene and MLST (Multi Locus Sequence Typing) gene markers. This analysis led to the detection of horizontal gene transfer events, in which Wobachia genes were inserted into the tsetse flies fly nuclear genome.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Wolbachia infections were detected in both laboratory and natural populations of several different Glossina species. The characterization of these Wolbachia strains promises to lead to a deeper insight in tsetse flies-Wolbachia interactions, which is essential for the development and use of Wolbachia-based biological control methods.
authors.forename: Vangelis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Doudoumis
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tsiamis
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wamwiri
authors.forename: Corey
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brelsfoard
authors.forename: Uzma
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Alam
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.forename: Stelios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dalaperas
authors.forename: Adly
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abd-Alla
authors.forename: Johnson
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ouma
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Takac
authors.forename: Serap
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aksoy
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bourtzis
mesh_terms: D000349:Africa; D000818:Animals; D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000235:genetics; D022761:Gene Transfer, Horizontal; D049750:Genome, Insect; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D058885:Multilocus Sequence Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S