Wolbachia is an intracellular obligate symbiont, that is relatively common in insects and also found in some nematodes. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is the most commonly expressed form, of several sex altering phenotypes caused by this rickettsial-like bacterium. CI is induced when infected males mate with uninfected females, and is likely the result of bacterial-induced modification of spe...

Understanding viral dynamics in arthropods is of great importance when designing models to describe how viral spread can influence arthropod populations. The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia spp., which is present in up to 40% of all insect species, has the ability to alter viral dynamics in both Drosophila spp. and mosquitoes, a feature that in mosquitoes may be utilized to limit spread of im...

Wolbachia is a genus of bacterial endosymbionts that impacts the breeding systems of their hosts. Wolbachia can confuse the patterns of mitochondrial variation, including DNA barcodes, because it influences the pathways through which mitochondria are inherited. We examined the extent to which these endosymbionts are detected in routine DNA barcoding, assessed their impact upon the insect sequen...

BACKGROUND Most filarial parasite species contain Wolbachia, obligatory bacterial endosymbionts that are crucial for filarial development and reproduction. They are targets for alternative chemotherapy, but their role in the biology of filarial nematodes is not well understood. Light microscopy provides important information on morphology, localization and potential function of these bacteria. ...

We have recently described a mutualistic symbiosis in which Wolbachia bacteria were shown to improve the fitness of some Drosophila melanogaster stocks. Wolbachia did not extend longevity in all Drosophila genotypes, even though 16s rDNA sequences indicated that our Drosophila stocks were infected with the same Wolbachia strain. Here, we use reciprocal hybrid crosses between two Drosophila stra...

In the mosquito Culex pipiens, insecticide resistance genes alter many life-history traits and incur a fitness cost. Resistance to organophosphate insecticides involves two loci, with each locus coding for a different mechanism of resistance (degradation vs. insensitivity to insecticides). The density of intracellular Wolbachia bacteria has been found to be higher in resistant mosquitoes, regar...

Wolbachia endosymbiotic bacteria have been implicated in the inflammatory pathogenesis of filariasis. Inflammation induced by Brugia malayi female worm extract (BMFE) is dependent on Toll-like receptors 2 and 6 (TLR2/6) with only a partial requirement for TLR1. Removal of Wolbachia, lipids, or proteins eliminates all inflammatory activity. Wolbachia bacteria contain the lipoprotein biosynthesis...

Wolbachia bacteria are widespread, maternally transmitted endosymbionts of insects. Maintenance of sufficient Wolbachia titer in maternal germline cells is required for transmission efficacy. The mechanisms that regulate Wolbachia titer are not well understood; however, dietary sucrose was reported to elevate oocyte Wolbachia titer in Drosophila melanogaster whereas dietary yeast decreased oocy...

Wolbachia are endosymbiotic bacteria that commonly infect arthropods, inducing certain phenotypes in their hosts. So far, no endemic South American species of terrestrial isopods have been investigated for Wolbachia infection. In this work, populations from two species of Balloniscus (B. sellowii and B. glaber) were studied through a diagnostic PCR assay. Fifteen new Wolbachia 16S rDNA sequence...

Wolbachia pipientis is an obligate intracellular bacterium found in a wide range of invertebrate taxa. While over ecological timescales Wolbachia infections are maintained by strict maternal inheritance, horizontal transfer events are common over evolutionary time. To be horizontally transferred between organisms, Wolbachia bacteria must pass through and survive an extracellular phase. We used ...