Publication Type
Journal Article
Journal Name
Insects
Publication Date
6-1-2019
Abstract
Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) is an important pest of fruit-bearing plants in many countries worldwide. In Africa, this pest has spread rapidly and has become widely established since the first invasion report in 2003. Wolbachia is a vertically transmitted endosymbiont that can significantly influence aspects of the biology and, in particular, the reproduction of its host. In this study, we screened B. dorsalis specimens collected from several locations in Africa between 2005 and 2017 for Wolbachia using a PCR-based assay to target the Wolbachia surface protein wsp. Of the 357 individuals tested, 10 were positive for Wolbachia using the wsp assay. We identified four strains of Wolbachia infecting two B. dorsalis mitochondrial haplotypes. We found no strict association between the infecting strain and host haplotype, with one strain being present in two different host haplotypes. All the detected strains belonged to Super Group B Wolbachia and did not match any strains reported previously in B. dorsalis in Asia. These findings indicate that diverse Wolbachia infections are present in invasive populations of B. dorsalis.
Keywords
Bactrocera dorsalis, Mitochondrial COI haplotype, Oriental fruit fly, Wolbachia, Wolbachia surface protein
Recommended Citation
Gichuhi, J., Khamis, F., den Berg, J., Ekesi, S., & Herren, J. (2019). Unexpected diversity of Wolbachia associated with bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Africa. Insects (6) https://doi.org/10.3390/insects10060155
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.