A novel approach to eliminate Wolbachia infections in Nasonia vitripennis revealed different antibiotic resistance between two bacterial strains.
Wolbachia are widespread in insects and can manipulate host reproduction. Nasonia vitripennis is a widely studied organism with a very high prevalence of Wolbachia infection. To study the effect of Wolbachia infection in Nasonia spp., it is important to obtain noninfected individuals by artificial methods. Current methods that employ sugar water-containing antibiotics can successfully eliminate Wolbachia from the parasitic wasps; however, treatment of at least three generations is required. Here, we describe a novel, feasible, and effective approach to eliminate Wolbachia from N. vitripennis by feeding fly pupae continuously offering antibiotics to Nasonia populations, which shortened the time to eliminate the pathogens to two generations. Additionally, the Wolbachia Uni and CauB strains have obviously different rifampicin-resistance abilities, which is a previously unknown phenomenon.
College of Life Sciences, Hebei University, Baoding, China; Key Laboratory of Zoological Systematics and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Hai-Yang
HY
Liu
Yan-Kun
YK
Wang
Cong-Cong
CC
Zhi
Jin-Hua
JH
Xiao
Da-Wei
DW
Huang
D000818:Animals; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012098:Reproduction; D012288:Rickettsiaceae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012293:Rifampin / Q000494:pharmacology; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014863:Wasps / Q000382:microbiology*; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012293:Rifampin
Wolbachia elimination; infection titer; real-time quantitative PCR