Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infection in silkworm

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Xingfu Zha¹  Wenji Zhang¹  Chunyan Zhou¹  Liying Zhang¹  Zhonghuai Xiang¹  Qingyou Xia¹ 

[1] ,Southwest University College of Biotechnology State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome BiologyChongqing,P.R. China

关键词: Wolbachia;    silkworm;    wsp;    antibiotics;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-47572014000400014

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

Wolbachia naturally infects a wide variety of arthropods, where it plays important roles in host reproduction. It was previously reported that Wolbachia did not infect silkworm. By means of PCR and sequencing we found in this study that Wolbachia is indeed present in silkworm. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that Wolbachia infection in silkworm may have occurred via transfer from parasitic wasps. Furthermore, Southern blotting results suggest a lateral transfer of the wsp gene into the genomes of some wild silkworms. By antibiotic treatments, we found that tetracycline and ciprofloxacin can eliminate Wolbachia in the silkworm and Wolbachia is important to ovary development of silkworm. These results provide clues towards a more comprehensive understanding of the interaction between Wolbachia and silkworm and possibly other lepidopteran insects.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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