First detection of endosymbiotic bacteria in biting midges Culicoides pulicaris and Culicoides punctatus, important Palaearctic vectors of bluetongue virus

LEWIS, SE, RICE, A, HURST, GDD and BAYLIS, M ORCID: 0000-0003-0335-187X (2014) First detection of endosymbiotic bacteria in biting midges Culicoides pulicaris and Culicoides punctatus, important Palaearctic vectors of bluetongue virus. Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 28 (4). pp. 453-456.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/mve.12055

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Heritable bacteria have been highlighted as important components of vector biology, acting as required symbionts with an anabolic role, altering competence for disease transmission, and affecting patterns of gene flow by altering cross compatibility. In this paper, we tested eight <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U.K</jats:styled-content>. species of <jats:italic>Culicoides</jats:italic> (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) midge for the presence of five genera of endosymbiotic bacteria: <jats:italic>Cardinium</jats:italic> (Bacteroidales: Bacteroidaceae); <jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic> (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae); <jats:italic>Spiroplasma</jats:italic> (Entomoplasmatales: Spiroplasmataceae); <jats:italic>Arsenophonus</jats:italic> (Enterobacteriales: Enterobacteriaceae), and <jats:italic>Rickettsia</jats:italic> (Rickettsiales: Rickettsiaceae). <jats:italic>Cardinium</jats:italic> spp. were detected in both sexes of <jats:italic>Culicoides pulicaris</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>Culicoides punctatus</jats:italic>, two known vectors of bluetongue virus. <jats:italic>Cardinium</jats:italic> spp. were not detected in any other species, including the <jats:italic>Culicoides obsoletus</jats:italic> group, the main vector of bluetongue and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">S</jats:styled-content>chmallenberg viruses in northern <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">E</jats:styled-content>urope. The other endosymbionts were not detected in any <jats:italic>Culicoides</jats:italic> species. The <jats:italic>Cardinium</jats:italic> strain detected in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">U.K</jats:styled-content>. <jats:italic>Culicoides</jats:italic> species is very closely related to the <jats:italic>Candidatus Cardinium hertigii</jats:italic> group <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">C</jats:styled-content>, previously identified in <jats:italic>Culicoides</jats:italic> species in <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">A</jats:styled-content>sia. Further, we infer that the symbiont is not a sex ratio distorter and shows geographic variation in prevalence within a species. Despite its detection in several species of <jats:italic>Culicoides</jats:italic> that vector arboviruses worldwide, the absence of <jats:italic>Cardinium</jats:italic> in the <jats:italic>C. obsoletus</jats:italic> group suggests that infections of these symbionts may not be necessary to the arboviral vector competence of biting midges.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	## TULIP Type: Articles/Papers (Journal) ##
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	20 Jan 2015 11:29
Last Modified:	02 Oct 2023 20:57
DOI:	10.1111/mve.12055
Related URLs:	Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/2004779