Insects (2019) 10 (6 - 155)
Joseph Gichuhi, Fathiya M. Khamis, Johnnie Van den Berg, Sunday Ekesi and Jeremy K. Herren (2019)
Unexpected diversity of Wolbachia associated with Bactrocera dorsalis (Diptera: Tephritidae) in Africa
Insects 10 (6 - 155)
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 Wolbachiainfections are present in invasive populations of B. dorsalis.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Full text of article
Database assignments for author(s): Johnnie van den Berg, Sunday Ekesi
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution
Pest and/or beneficial records:
| Beneficial | Pest/Disease/Weed | Crop/Product | Country | Quarant.
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Sri Lanka | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Benin | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Ghana | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Kenya | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Nigeria | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Sudan | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Tanzania | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Togo | |||
| Bactrocera dorsalis | Uganda |
