Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA.
J Econ Entomol. 2023 Aug 10;116(4):1307-1316. doi: 10.1093/jee/toad098.
Cockroach management relies heavily on the use of conventional insecticides in urban settings, which no longer provide the anticipated level of control. Knowledge of cockroach endosymbionts, like Wolbachia, might provide novel avenues for control. Therefore, we screened 16 cockroach species belonging to 3 families (Ectobiidae, Blattidae, and Blaberidae) for the presence of Wolbachia. We mapped the evolution of Wolbachia-cockroach relationships based on maximum likelihood phylogeny and phylogenetic species clustering on a multi-loci sequence dataset (i.e., coxA, virD4, hcpA, and gatB) of Wolbachia genes. We confirmed the previous report of Wolbachia in 1 Ectobiid species; Supella longipalpa (Fab.), and detected the presence of Wolbachia in 2 Ectobiid species; Balta notulata (Stål) and Pseudomops septentrionalis Hebard, and 1 Blaberid species; Gromphadorhina portentosa (Schaum). All cockroach-associated Wolbachia herein detected were clustered with the ancestor of F clade Wolbachia of Cimex lectularius L. (bed bugs). Since Wolbachia provision C. lectularius with biotin vitamins that confer reproductive fitness, we screened the cockroach-associated Wolbachia for the presence of biotin genes. In toto, our results reveal 2 important findings: (i) Wolbachia is relatively uncommon among cockroach species infecting about 25% of species investigated, and (ii) cockroach-associated Wolbachia have biotin genes that likely provide nutritional benefits to their hosts. Thus, we discuss the potential of exploring Wolbachia as a tool for urban insect management.
蜚蠊管理严重依赖于在城市环境中使用常规杀虫剂，但这些杀虫剂不再提供预期的控制水平。对蜚蠊共生菌（如沃尔巴克氏体）的了解可能为控制提供新途径。因此，我们筛选了属于 3 个科（蜚蠊科、姬蠊科和蜉蝣科）的 16 种蜚蠊，以检测沃尔巴克氏体的存在。我们基于最大似然系统发育和多基因座序列数据集（即 coxA、virD4、hcpA 和 gatB）上的沃尔巴克氏体基因的系统发育种聚类，绘制了沃尔巴克氏体-蜚蠊关系的进化图。我们证实了之前在 1 种蜚蠊科物种（Supella longipalpa（Fab.））中报道的沃尔巴克氏体的存在，并在 2 种蜚蠊科物种（Balta notulata（Stål）和 Pseudomops septentrionalis Hebard）和 1 种蜉蝣科物种（Gromphadorhina portentosa（Schaum））中检测到沃尔巴克氏体的存在。本文检测到的所有与蜚蠊相关的沃尔巴克氏体均与 Cimex lectularius L.（臭虫）的 F 族沃尔巴克氏体的祖先聚类。由于沃尔巴克氏体为 C. lectularius 提供生物素维生素，从而赋予其生殖适应性，我们筛选了与蜚蠊相关的沃尔巴克氏体中生物素基因的存在情况。总的来说，我们的结果揭示了 2 个重要发现：（i）在感染的约 25%的物种中，沃尔巴克氏体在蜚蠊物种中相对较少见；（ii）与蜚蠊相关的沃尔巴克氏体具有生物素基因，可能为其宿主提供营养益处。因此，我们讨论了将沃尔巴克氏体作为城市昆虫管理工具进行探索的潜力。
