Analysing host-shift patterns of Wolbachia strains (Alphaproteobacteria) using comparative genomics

使用比较基因组学分析沃尔巴克氏菌菌株（Alphaproteobacteria）的宿主转移模式

• 批准号: 414708180
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Christoph Bleidorn
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Abteilung Biodiversität und Evolution der Tiere
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2017-12-31 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/414708180?language=en
• 关键词: Analysing; host; shift; patterns; Wolbachia

Wolbachia is a group of Alphaproteobacteria found as intracellular endosymbionts in arthropod and nematode hosts. Based on meta-analyses, up to 52% of all terrestrial arthropod species are estimated to be infected. By far the most common strains are Wolbachia supergroup A and B and the spread among arthropod hosts has been explained by horizontal transfer. However, pathways of horizontal transfer between different hosts remain to be elucidated. Three different factors have been discussed influencing host shift patterns: (I) Phylogenetic relationships of hosts; (II) Geographic distribution of host populations; (III) Host ecology. The relative importance and contributions of these factors are discussed and comparative phylogenetic analyses based on multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) yielded incongruent results. However, we could recently show that Wolbachia MLST analyses may not be useful at all for such questions and should be replaced by genome-scale approaches.Within the proposed project we will use a phylogenomic approach to compare the relative contribution of phylogeny, ecology, and biogeography on horizontal transmission of Wolbachia strains among arthropods. For this purpose we will screen the infection status of arthropod communities of four selected plant species. Moreover, we will additionally compare Wolbachia infections of alfalfa arthropod communities between the USA (Kentucky) and Europe (Germany). After PCR screening for the presence of Wolbachia, metagenomes comprising host and Wolbachia DNA will be sequenced and assembled for selected individuals of infected arthropod species. Finally, comparative phylogenetic approaches will be used to test our three working hypotheses: (I) Infected specialists that share the same hostplant are likely to share similar Wolbachia strains; (II) Phylogenetically related infected generalists are likely to share similar Wolbachia; and (III) Arthropod communities of the same or closely related plant species harbor Wolbachia strains that differ between continents.

沃尔巴克氏体是一组在节肢动物和线虫宿主中作为细胞内共生体发现的α变形菌。根据荟萃分析，估计所有陆生节肢动物物种中高达52%受到感染。到目前为止，最常见的菌株是沃尔巴克氏体超群A和B，节肢动物宿主之间的传播已被解释为水平转移。然而，不同宿主之间的水平转移途径仍有待阐明。三个不同的因素影响主机转移模式进行了讨论：（一）主机的系统发育关系;（二）主机种群的地理分布;（三）主机生态。这些因素的相对重要性和贡献进行了讨论和比较系统发育分析的基础上多位点序列分型（MLST）产生不一致的结果。然而，我们最近可以表明，沃尔巴克氏体MLST分析可能是没有用的，在所有这样的问题，应该被取代的基因组规模的approaches.Within建议的项目，我们将使用一个基因组的方法来比较的相对贡献，在节肢动物之间的沃尔巴克氏体菌株的水平传播的遗传学，生态学和地理学。为此，我们将筛选四个选定的植物物种的节肢动物群落的感染状况。此外，我们还将比较美国（肯塔基州）和欧洲（德国）之间苜蓿节肢动物群落的沃尔巴克氏体感染。在PCR筛选沃尔巴克氏体的存在后，将对包含宿主和沃尔巴克氏体DNA的宏基因组进行测序并组装选定的受感染节肢动物物种个体。最后，比较系统发育的方法将被用来测试我们的三个工作假设：（一）感染的专家，共享相同的寄主植物可能会共享类似的沃尔巴克氏体菌株;（二）系统发育相关的感染的通才可能共享类似的沃尔巴克氏体;（三）节肢动物群落相同或密切相关的植物物种港口沃尔巴克氏体菌株，不同大陆之间。