Presence of extensive Wolbachia symbiont insertions discovered in the genome of its host Glossina morsitans morsitans.
Tsetse flies (Glossina spp.) are the cyclical vectors of Trypanosoma spp., which are unicellular parasites responsible for multiple diseases, including nagana in livestock and sleeping sickness in humans in Africa. Glossina species, including Glossina morsitans morsitans (Gmm), for which the Whole Genome Sequence (WGS) is now available, have established symbiotic associations with three endosymbionts: Wigglesworthia glossinidia, Sodalis glossinidius and Wolbachia pipientis (Wolbachia). The presence of Wolbachia in both natural and laboratory populations of Glossina species, including the presence of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) events in a laboratory colony of Gmm, has already been shown. We herein report on the draft genome sequence of the cytoplasmic Wolbachia endosymbiont (cytWol) associated with Gmm. By in silico and molecular and cytogenetic analysis, we discovered and validated the presence of multiple insertions of Wolbachia (chrWol) in the host Gmm genome. We identified at least two large insertions of chrWol, 527,507 and 484,123 bp in size, from Gmm WGS data. Southern hybridizations confirmed the presence of Wolbachia insertions in Gmm genome, and FISH revealed multiple insertions located on the two sex chromosomes (X and Y), as well as on the supernumerary B-chromosomes. We compare the chrWol insertions to the cytWol draft genome in an attempt to clarify the evolutionary history of the HGT events. We discuss our findings in light of the evolution of Wolbachia infections in the tsetse fly and their potential impacts on the control of tsetse populations and trypanosomiasis.
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America; Department of Natural Sciences, St. Catharine College, St. Catharine, Kentucky, United States of America.
Corey
C
Brelsfoard
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, Greece.
George
G
Tsiamis
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italia.
Marco
M
Falchetto
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italia.
Ludvik M
LM
Gomulski
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Erich
E
Telleria
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Uzma
U
Alam
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, Greece.
Vangelis
V
Doudoumis
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italia.
Francesca
F
Scolari
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America; Department of Biological Sciences, McMicken College of Arts and Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America.
Joshua B
JB
Benoit
Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Penglais, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, United Kingdom.
Martin
M
Swain
Institute of Zoology, Section of Molecular and Applied Zoology, Slovak Academy of Science, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Peter
P
Takac
Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie, Università di Pavia, Pavia, Italia.
Anna R
AR
Malacrida
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources Management, University of Patras, Agrinio, Greece; Biomedical Sciences Research Center Al. Fleming, Vari, Greece; Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Vienna, Austria.
Kostas
K
Bourtzis
Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America.
Serap
S
Aksoy
D000818:Animals; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D049750:Genome, Insect; D017404:In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D011995:Recombination, Genetic; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000235:genetics*; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000235:genetics*