Diversity of Wolbachia Endosymbionts in Heteropteran Bugs

Recombination in wolbachia endosymbionts of filarial nematodes?

Diversity and evolution of the Wolbachia endosymbionts of Bemisia (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) whiteflies

Wolbachia is the most prevalent symbiont described in arthropods to date. Wolbachia can manipulate host reproduction, provide nutrition to insect hosts and protect insect hosts from pathogenic viruses. So far, 13 supergroups of Wolbachia have been identified. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a complex containing more than 28 morphologically indistinguishable cryptic species. Some cryptic species ...

Wolbachia endosymbionts induce neutrophil extracellular trap formation in human onchocerciasis

The endosymbiotic bacteria, Wolbachia, induce neutrophilic responses to the human helminth pathogen Onchocerca volvulus. The formation of Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs), has been implicated in anti-microbial defence, but has not been identified in human helminth infection. Here, we demonstrate NETs formation in human onchocerciasis. Extracellular NETs and neutrophils were visualised arou...

Bugs in Transition: The Dynamic World of Wolbachia in Insects

The availability of Next Generation Sequencing tools has uncovered an unexpected and highly complex universe of hidden microbial passengers that are transiently or permanently associated with their hosts, hereafter called symbionts. Under natural conditions, these symbionts are often tightly controlled to occur at low densities and/or are restricted to special tissues by intrinsic and extrinsic...

Signs of Neutralization in a Redundant Gene Involved in Homologous Recombination in Wolbachia Endosymbionts

Genomic reduction in bacterial endosymbionts occurs through large genomic deletions and long-term accumulation of mutations. The latter process involves successive steps including gene neutralization, pseudogenization, and gradual erosion until complete loss. Although many examples of pseudogenes at various levels of degradation have been reported, neutralization cases are scarce because of the...