Widespread infection and diverse infection patterns of Wolbachia in Chinese aphids

Abstract

Wolbachia are intracellular symbionts that infect a wide range of arthropods and filarial nematodes. Aphids are engaged in diverse and complex relationships with their endosymbionts. Four supergroups (A, B, M and N) of Wolbachia were previously detected in aphids and supergroups M and N were only found in aphids. In this study, we detected and described Wolbachia infections in natural populations of aphids in China. Three supergroups (A, B and M) were found in the examined aphid species. Supergroup M was preponderant, whereas supergroups A and B were only detected in certain species. Supergroup N was not found in this study. There were four infection patterns of Wolbachia in aphids, namely, infection with supergroup M alone, co-infection with supergroups A and M, co-infection with supergroups B and M, and co-infection with supergroups A, B and M. The pattern of infection only with supergroup M was universal and was found in all evaluated subfamilies. Only two subfamilies, Aphidinae and Lachninae, manifested to present all four infection patterns. Three patterns were observed in Calaphidinae (M, A&M, B&M) and Eriosomatinae (M, B&M, A&B&M). Two patterns were observed in the Anoeciinae (M, A&M) and Greenideinae (M, B&M), and only one pattern (M) was observed in the remaining families and/or subfamilies of Aphidoidea. These results indicated that Wolbachia infections in Chinese aphids are widespread. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that Wolbachia supergroup M spread rapidly and recently among all host species of aphids in China. Reasons for this spread and its mechanisms are discussed along with the possible effects of Wolbachia on their aphid hosts.

Keywords: Wolbachia; aphid; characterization; detection; infection pattern; prevalence.