Unique clade of alphaproteobacterial endosymbionts induces complete cytoplasmic incompatibility in the coconut beetle

Shun Ichiro Takano, Midori Tuda, Keiji Takasu, Naruto Furuya, Yuya Imamura, Sangwan Kim, Kosuke Tashiro, Kazuhiro Iiyama, Matias Tavares, Acacio Cardoso Amaral

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Maternally inherited bacterial endosymbionts in arthropods manipulate host reproduction to increase the fitness of infected females. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is one such manipulation, in which uninfected females produce few or no offspring when they mate with infected males. To date, two bacterial endosymbionts, Wolbachia and Cardinium, have been reported as CI inducers. Only Wolbachia induces complete CI, which causes 100% offspring mortality in incompatible crosses. Here we report a third CI inducer that belongs to a unique clade of Alphaproteobacteria detected within the coconut beetle, Brontispa longissima. This beetle comprises two cryptic species, the Asian clade and the Pacific clade, which show incompatibility in hybrid crosses. Different bacterial endosymbionts, a unique clade of Alphaproteobacteria in the Pacific clade and Wolbachia in the Asian clade, induced bidirectional CI between hosts. The former induced complete CI (100% mortality), whereas the latter induced partial CI (70% mortality). Illumina MiSeq sequencing and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis patterns showed that the predominant bacterium detected in the Pacific clade of B. longissima was this unique clade of Alphaproteobacteria alone, indicating that this endosymbiont was responsible for the complete CI. Sex distortion did not occur in any of the tested crosses. The 1,160 bp of 16S rRNA gene sequence obtained for this endosymbiont had only 89.3% identity with that of Wolbachia, indicating that it can be recognized as a distinct species. We discuss the potential use of this bacterium as a biological control agent.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6110-6115
Number of pages6
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume114
Issue number23
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 6 2017

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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