Ribeiro Pedro, Butenko Anzhelika, Linke Daniel, Ghanavi Hamid Reza, Meier Joana Isabel, Wahlberg Niklas, Matos-Maraví Pável
Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Entomology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 Jan 7;25(1):5. doi: 10.1186/s12866-024-03719-1.
The endosymbiotic relationship between Wolbachia bacteria and insects has been of interest for many years due to their diverse types of host reproductive phenotypic manipulation and potential role in the host's evolutionary history and population dynamics. Even though infection rates are high in Lepidoptera and specifically in butterflies, and reproductive manipulation is present in these taxa, less attention has been given to understanding how Wolbachia is acquired and maintained in their natural populations, across and within species having continental geographical distributions.
We used whole genome sequencing data to investigate the phylogenetics, demographic history, and infection rate dynamics of Wolbachia in four species of the Spicauda genus of skipper butterflies (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae), a taxon that presents sympatric and often syntopic distribution, with drastic variability in species abundance in the Neotropical region. We show that infection is maintained by high turnover rates driven mainly by pervasive horizontal transmissions, while also presenting novel cases of double infection by distantly related supergroups of Wolbachia in S. simplicius.
Our results suggest that Wolbachia population dynamics is host species-specific, with genetic cohesiveness across wide geographical distributions. We demonstrate that low coverage whole genome sequencing data can be used for an exhaustive assessment of Wolbachia infection in natural populations of butterflies, as well as its dynamics in closely related host species. This ultimately leads to a better understanding of the endosymbiotic population dynamics of Wolbachia and its effects on the host's biology and evolution.
多年来，沃尔巴克氏体细菌与昆虫之间的内共生关系一直备受关注，因为它们对宿主生殖表型具有多种操纵方式，并且在宿主的进化历史和种群动态中可能发挥作用。尽管在鳞翅目昆虫尤其是蝴蝶中感染率很高，且这些类群存在生殖操纵现象，但对于沃尔巴克氏体如何在具有大陆地理分布的物种间及物种内的自然种群中获得和维持，人们关注较少。
我们利用全基因组测序数据，研究了弄蝶科尖尾弄蝶属四个物种中沃尔巴克氏体的系统发育、种群历史和感染率动态。该类群呈现同域分布且常为共位分布，在新热带地区物种丰度变化极大。我们发现，感染主要通过普遍的水平传播导致的高更替率得以维持，同时在简单尖尾弄蝶中还出现了由远缘相关的沃尔巴克氏体超群双重感染的新案例。
我们的结果表明，沃尔巴克氏体的种群动态具有宿主物种特异性，在广泛的地理分布中具有遗传凝聚力。我们证明，低覆盖度的全基因组测序数据可用于详尽评估蝴蝶自然种群中沃尔巴克氏体的感染情况及其在近缘宿主物种中的动态。这最终有助于更好地理解沃尔巴克氏体的内共生种群动态及其对宿主生物学和进化的影响。
