Infection of New- and Old-World Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) by the Intracellular Parasite Wolbachia: Implications for Host Mitochondrial DNA Evolution
Date
2003Author
Armbruster, Peter
Damsky, William E.
Giordano, Rosanna
Birungi, Josephine
Munstermann, Leonard E.
Conn, And Jan E.
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Wolbachia are cytoplasmically inherited, endosymbiotic bacteria known to infect a wide variety of arthropods. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ampliÞcation of the Wolbachia surface protein (wsp) gene was used to assay the infection of geographically disparate populations of Aedes
albopictus (Skuse) by Wolbachia. Nine North American, four South American, one Hawaiian, and four
Old World populations of A. albopictus were all doubly infected with both the wAlbA and wAlbB strains of Wolbachia.A365-bp region of thewAlbA wsp gene was sequenced from seven geographically disparate host populations, and all sequences were identical. Similarly, a 474-bp region of the wAlbB
wsp gene was sequenced from the same populations, and all sequences were identical. These results suggest a role for Wolbachia infection in causing the previously established pattern of low mitochondrial
DNA variability, but average nuclear gene diversity, within and among populations of
A. albopictus.
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