Zhang Mingpeng, Zhai Ruoyu, Niu Gengyun, Chen Jiaqi, Tan Beibei, Wu Duo, Meng Guanliang, Wei Meicai
College of Life Sciences, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.
Kindstar Global Precision Medicine Institute, Wuhan, China.
Commun Biol. 2025 Aug 13;8(1):1211. doi: 10.1038/s42003-025-08629-0.
Wolbachia, a widespread endosymbiotic bacterium, profoundly impacts insect hosts by distorting reproduction and population dynamics. Despite extensive laboratory research, its long-term effects on host evolution in nature remain poorly understood, especially the genomic consequences linked to disruptions in sex determination and reproductive processes. We present the first telomere-to-telomere (T2T) genome assembly of the sawfly Analcellicampa danfengensis and the complete genome of its symbiotic Wolbachia. Comparative population genomics across six Analcellicampa species revealed that Wolbachia-infected populations show starkly different demographic signals. While uninfected populations show similar demographic signals for both sexes, infected populations exhibit a lower apparent effective population size (Ne) in males, which may reflect a recurrent male bottleneck effect driven by Wolbachia-induced male scarcity. Genomic scans identified positively selected genes associated with reproductive functions, sensory perception, neural development, and longevity, suggesting that Wolbachia likely manipulates critical host pathways to promote its transmission. These findings provide direct genomic insights into Wolbachia as an evolutionary force, highlighting specific host genes and regions under selection resulting from these altered evolutionary dynamics. This work provides deeper insights into host-endosymbiont coevolution and has important implications for evolutionary theory and pest management strategies.
沃尔巴克氏体是一种广泛存在的内共生细菌，通过扭曲繁殖和种群动态对昆虫宿主产生深远影响。尽管进行了广泛的实验室研究，但其在自然环境中对宿主进化的长期影响仍知之甚少，尤其是与性别决定和生殖过程中断相关的基因组后果。我们展示了丹凤扁蜂的首个端粒到端粒（T2T）基因组组装及其共生沃尔巴克氏体的完整基因组。对六个扁蜂物种的比较群体基因组学研究表明，感染沃尔巴克氏体的种群呈现出截然不同的种群统计学信号。未感染的种群在两性中表现出相似的种群统计学信号，而感染的种群中雄性的表观有效种群大小（Ne）较低，这可能反映了由沃尔巴克氏体诱导的雄性稀缺所驱动的反复出现的雄性瓶颈效应。基因组扫描确定了与生殖功能、感官感知、神经发育和寿命相关的正选择基因，表明沃尔巴克氏体可能操纵关键的宿主途径以促进其传播。这些发现为沃尔巴克氏体作为一种进化力量提供了直接的基因组见解，突出了在这些改变的进化动态下受到选择的特定宿主基因和区域。这项工作为宿主 - 内共生体共同进化提供了更深入的见解，对进化理论和害虫管理策略具有重要意义。
