ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7147-5199
Current Organisations
University of Helsinki
,
Lund University
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.MIMET.2010.10.019
Abstract: Most genome sequencing projects using intracellular bacteria face difficulties in obtaining sufficient bacterial DNA free of host contamination. We have developed a simple and rapid protocol to isolate endosymbiont DNA virtually free from fly and mosquito host DNA. We purified DNA from six Wolbachia strains in preparation for genome sequencing using this method, and achieved up to 97% pure Wolbachia sequence, even after using frozen insects. This is a significant improvement for future Wolbachia and other endosymbiont genome projects.
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 2022
DOI: 10.1093/GIGASCIENCE/GIAB097
Abstract: The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses. The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92–94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models. The genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome, and genetics studies on this species.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-09-2014
DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS5737
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-07-2020
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.6573
Abstract: Plant tissues often lack essential nutritive elements and may contain a range of secondary toxic compounds. As nutritional imbalance in food intake may affect the performances of herbivores, the latter have evolved a variety of physiological mechanisms to cope with the challenges of digesting their plant‐based diet. Some of these strategies involve living in association with symbiotic microbes that promote the digestion and detoxification of plant compounds or supply their host with essential nutrients missing from the plant diet. In Lepidoptera, a growing body of evidence has, however, recently challenged the idea that herbivores are nutritionally dependent on their gut microbial community. It is suggested that many of the herbivorous Lepidopteran species may not host a resident microbial community, but rather a transient one, acquired from their environment and diet. Studies directly testing these hypotheses are however scarce and come from an even more limited number of species. By coupling comparative metabarcoding, immune gene expression, and metabolomics analyses with experimental manipulation of the gut microbial community of prediapause larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly ( Melitaea cinxia , L.), we tested whether the gut microbial community supports early larval growth and survival, or modulates metabolism or immunity during early stages of development. We successfully altered this microbiota through antibiotic treatments and consecutively restored it through fecal transplants from conspecifics. Our study suggests that although the microbiota is involved in the up‐regulation of an antimicrobial peptide, it did not affect the life history traits or the metabolism of early instars larvae. This study confirms the poor impact of the microbiota on erse life history traits of yet another Lepidoptera species. However, it also suggests that potential eco‐evolutionary host‐symbiont strategies that take place in the gut of herbivorous butterfly hosts might have been disregarded, particularly how the microbiota may affect the host immune system homeostasis.
Publisher: Authorea, Inc.
Date: 23-03-2021
DOI: 10.22541/AU.161653029.98016558/V1
Abstract: Population bottlenecks associated with founder events strongly impact the establishment and genetic makeup of populations. In addition to their genotype, founding in iduals also bring along symbionts that can manipulate the phenotype of their host, affecting the host population establishment, dynamics and evolution. Thus, to understand introduction, invasion, and spread, we should identify the roles played by accompanying symbionts. In 1991, the parasitoid wasp, Hyposoter horticola, and its associated hyperparasitoid were accidentally introduced from the main Åland islands, Finland, to an isolated island in the archipelago, along with their host, the Glanville fritillary butterfly. Though the receiving island was unoccupied, the butterfly was present on some of the small islands in the vicinity. The three species have persisted as small populations ever since. A strain of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia has an intermediate prevalence in the H. horticola across the main Åland population. The infection increases susceptibility of the parasitoid to hyperparasitism. We investigated the establishment and spread of the parasitoid, along with patterns of prevalence of its symbiont using 323 specimens collected between 1992 and 2013, from five localities across Åland, including the source and introduced populations. Using 14 microsatellites and one mitochondrial marker, we suggest that the relatively erse founding population and occasional migration between islands might have facilitated the persistence of all isolated populations, despite multiple local population crashes. We also show local near-fixation of Wolbachia, where the hyperparasitoid is absent, and selection against infected wasp genotypes is relaxed.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 25-04-2017
DOI: 10.7287/PEERJ.PREPRINTS.2944V1
Abstract: Background. Adaptation to local habitat conditions may lead to the natural ergence of populations in life-history traits such as body size, time of reproduction, mate signaling or dispersal capacity. Given enough time and strong enough selection pressures, populations may experience local genetic differentiation. The genetic basis of many life-history traits, and their evolution according to different environmental conditions remain however poorly understood. Methods. We conducted an association study on the Glanville fritillary butterfly, using material from five populations along a latitudinal gradient within the Baltic Sea region, which show different degrees of habitat fragmentation. We investigated variation in ten principal components, cofounding in total 21 life-history traits, according to two environmental types, and 33 genetic SNP markers from 15 candidate genes. Results. We found that nine SNPs from five genes showed strong trend for trait associations ( p -values under 0.001 before correction). These associations, yet non-significant after multiple test corrections, with a total number of 1086 tests, were consistent across the study populations. Additionally, these nine genes also showed an allele frequency difference between the populations from the northern fragmented versus the southern continuous landscape. Discussion. Our study provides further support for previously described trait associations within the Glanville fritillary butterfly species across different spatial scales. Although our results alone are inconclusive, they are concordant with previous studies that identified these associations to be related to climatic changes or habitat fragmentation within the Åland population.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 23-04-2013
Abstract: On small isolated islands, natural selection is expected to reduce the dispersal capacity of organisms, as short distances do not require a high rate of dispersal, which might lead to accidental emigration from the population. In addition, in iduals foregoing the high cost of maintaining flight capacity may instead allocate resources to other functions. However, in butterflies and many other insects, flight is necessary not only for dispersal but also for most other activities. A weakly flying in idual would probably do worse and have an elevated rather than reduced probability of accidental emigration. Here, we report results consistent with the hypothesis that a butterfly population on an isolated island, instead of having lost its flight capacity, has evolved better grip to resist the force of wind and to avoid being blown off the island. Our study suggests that local adaptation has occurred in this population in spite of its very small size ( N e ∼ 100), complete isolation, low genetic variation and high genetic load.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 04-11-2020
DOI: 10.1101/2020.11.03.364950
Abstract: The Glanville fritillary ( Melitaea cinxia ) butterfly is a long-term model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome level assembly of the butterfly’s genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses. The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO, indicates that the genome contains 93 - 95% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,830 gene models using the MAKER pipeline and manually curated 1,232 of these gene models. The genome and its annotated gene models are a valuable resource for future comparative genomics, molecular biology, transcriptome and genetics studies on this species.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 15-08-2023
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.15853
Abstract: Sexual selection and conflicts within and between sexes promote morphological ersity of reproductive traits within species. Variation in the morphology of diagnostic reproductive characters within species offer an excellent opportunity to study these evolutionary processes as drivers of species ersification. The African monarch, Danaus chrysippus (Linnaeus, 1758), is widespread across Africa. The species is polytypic, with the respective geographical ranges of the four colour morphs only overlapping in East Africa. Furthermore, some of the populations host an endosymbiotic bacterium, Spiroplasma , which induces son-killing and distorts the local host population sex-ratio, creating sexual conflicts between the females seeking to optimize their fecundity and the limited mating capacity of the rare males. We dissected females from Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa, where Spiroplasma vary in presence and prevalence (high, variable and absent, respectively), and conducted microscopy imaging of their reproductive organs. We then characterized the effect of population, female body size, and female mating status, on the size and shape of different genitalia characters of the D. chrysippus female butterflies. We showed that although the general morphology of the organs is conserved in D. chrysippus , female genitalia vary in size and shape between and within populations. The virgin females have smaller organs, while the same organs were expanded in mated females. Females from highly female-biased populations, where the male-killing Spiroplasma is prevalent, also have a larger area of their corpus bursae covered with signa structures. However, this pattern occurs because a larger proportion of the females remains virgin in the female-biased populations rather than because of male depletion due to the symbiont, as males from sex-ratio distorted populations did not produce significantly smaller nutritious spermatophores.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 05-08-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-12-2015
DOI: 10.1111/EEN.12172
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.MIMET.2010.10.019
Abstract: Most genome sequencing projects using intracellular bacteria face difficulties in obtaining sufficient bacterial DNA free of host contamination. We have developed a simple and rapid protocol to isolate endosymbiont DNA virtually free from fly and mosquito host DNA. We purified DNA from six Wolbachia strains in preparation for genome sequencing using this method, and achieved up to 97% pure Wolbachia sequence, even after using frozen insects. This is a significant improvement for future Wolbachia and other endosymbiont genome projects.
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 10-2016
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.140699
Abstract: The success of maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria, such as Wolbachia, is directly linked to their host reproduction but in direct conflict with other parasites that kill the host before it reaches reproductive maturity. Therefore, symbionts that have evolved strategies to increase their host’s ability to evade lethal parasites may have high penetrance, while detrimental symbionts would be selected against, leading to lower penetrance or extinction from the host population. In a natural population of the parasitoid wasp Hyposoter horticola in the Åland Islands (Finland), the Wolbachia strain wHho persists at an intermediate prevalence (∼50%). Additionally, there is a negative correlation between the prevalence of Wolbachia and a hyperparasitoid wasp, Mesochorus cf. stigmaticus, in the landscape. Using a manipulative field experiment, we addressed the persistence of Wolbachia at this intermediate level, and tested whether the observed negative correlation could be due to Wolbachia inducing either susceptibility or resistance to parasitism. We show that infection with Wolbachia does not influence the ability of the wasp to parasitize its butterfly host, Melitaea cinxia, but that hyperparasitism of the wasp increases in the presence of wHho. Consequently, the symbiont is detrimental, and in order to persist in the host population, must also have a positive effect on fitness that outweighs the costly burden of susceptibility to widespread parasitism.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 08-05-2018
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.4629
Abstract: The Lepidoptera is one of the most widespread and recognisable insect orders. Due to their remarkable ersity, economic and ecological importance, moths and butterflies have been studied extensively over the last 200 years. More recently, the relationship between Lepidoptera and their heritable microbial endosymbionts has received increasing attention. Heritable endosymbionts reside within the host’s body and are often, but not exclusively, inherited through the female line. Advancements in molecular genetics have revealed that host-associated microbes are both extremely prevalent among arthropods and highly erse. Furthermore, heritable endosymbionts have been repeatedly demonstrated to play an integral role in many aspects of host biology, particularly host reproduction. Here, we review the major findings of research of heritable microbial endosymbionts of butterflies and moths. We promote the Lepidoptera as important models in the study of reproductive manipulations employed by heritable endosymbionts, with the mechanisms underlying male-killing and feminisation currently being elucidated in moths and butterflies. We also reveal that the vast majority of research undertaken of Lepidopteran endosymbionts concerns Wolbachia . While this highly prevalent bacterium is undoubtedly important, studies should move towards investigating the presence of other, and interacting endosymbionts, and we discuss the merits of examining the microbiome of Lepidoptera to this end. We finally consider the importance of understanding the influence of endosymbionts under global environmental change and when planning conservation management of endangered Lepidoptera species.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 24-02-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-150504/V3
Abstract: Background Evolutionary processes can cause strong spatial genetic signatures, such as local loss of genetic ersity, or conflicting histories from mitochondrial versus nuclear markers. Investigating these genetic patterns is important, as they may reveal obscured processes and players. The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is among the most widespread symbionts in insects. Wolbachia typically spreads within host species by conferring direct fitness benefits, or by manipulating its host reproduction to favour infected over uninfected females. Under sufficient selective advantage, the mitochondrial haplotype associated with the favoured symbiotic strains will spread ( i.e . hitchhike), resulting in low mitochondrial genetic variation across the host species range. The common bluetail damselfly ( Ischnura elegans: van der Linden, 1820) has recently emerged as a model organism of the genetics and genomic signatures of range expansion during climate change. Although there is accumulating data on the consequences of such expansion on the genetic of I. elegans , no study has screened for Wolbachia in the damselfly genus Ischnura . Here, we present the biogeographic variation in Wolbachia prevalence and penetrance in 17 I. elegans populations across Europe and Japan, and from close relatives in the Mediterranean area (i.e. I. genei : Rambur, 1842 and I. saharensis : Aguesse, 1958). Results Our data reveal (a) multiple Wolbachia -strains, (b) potential transfer of the symbiont through hybridization, (c) higher infection rates at higher latitudes, and (d) reduced mitochondrial ersity in the north-west populations, indicative of hitchhiking associated with the selective sweep of the most common strain. We found low mitochondrial haplotype ersity in the Wolbachia -infected north-western European populations (Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy) of I. elegans , and, conversely, higher mitochondrial ersity in populations with low penetrance of Wolbachia (Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro and Cyprus). The timing of the selective sweep associated with infected lineages was estimated between 20 000 to 44 000 years before present, which is consistent with the end of the last glacial period about 20 000 ya. Conclusions Our findings provide an ex le of how endosymbiont infections ca shape spatial variation in their host evolutionary genetics during postglacial expansion. These results also challenge population genetic studies that do not consider the prevalence of symbionts in many insects, which can impact geographic patterns of mitochondrial genetic ersity.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 03-02-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-150504/V2
Abstract: Background Evolutionary processes can cause strong spatial genetic signatures, such as local loss of genetic ersity, or conflicting histories from mitochondrial versus nuclear markers. Investigating these genetic patterns is important, as they may reveal obscured processes and players. The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is among the most widespread symbionts in insects. Wolbachia typically spreads within host species by conferring direct fitness benefits, or by manipulating its host reproduction to favour infected over uninfected females. Under sufficient selective advantage, the mitochondrial haplotype associated with the favoured symbiotic strains will spread ( i.e . hitchhike), resulting in low mitochondrial genetic variation across the host species range. The common bluetail damselfly ( Ischnura elegans: van der Linden, 1820) has recently emerged as a model organism of the genetics and genomic signatures of range expansion during climate change. Although there is accumulating data on the consequences of such expansion on the genetic of I. elegans , no study has screened for Wolbachia in the damselfly genus Ischnura . Here, we present the biogeographic variation in Wolbachia prevalence and penetrance in 17 I. elegans populations across Europe and Japan, and from close relatives in the Mediterranean area (i.e. I. genei : Rambur, 1842 and I. saharensis : Aguesse, 1958). Results Our data reveal (a) multiple Wolbachia -strains, (b) potential transfer of the symbiont through hybridization, (c) higher infection rates at higher latitudes, and (d) reduced mitochondrial ersity in the north-west populations, indicative of hitchhiking associated with the selective sweep of the most common strain. We found low mitochondrial haplotype ersity in the Wolbachia -infected north-western European populations (Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy) of I. elegans , and, conversely, higher mitochondrial ersity in populations with low penetrance of Wolbachia (Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro and Cyprus). The timing of the selective sweep associated with infected lineages was estimated between 20 000 to 44 000 years before present, which is consistent with the end of the last glacial period about 20 000 ya. Conclusions Our findings provide an ex le of how endosymbiont infections ca shape spatial variation in their host evolutionary genetics during postglacial expansion. These results also challenge population genetic studies that do not consider the prevalence of symbionts in many insects, which can impact geographic patterns of mitochondrial genetic ersity.
Publisher: Peer Community In
Date: 28-11-2022
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 19-01-2021
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-150504/V1
Abstract: Background Evolutionary processes can cause strong spatial genetic signatures, such as local loss of genetic ersity, or conflicting histories from mitochondrial versus nuclear markers. Investigating these genetic patterns is important, as they may reveal obscured processes and players. The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is among the most widespread symbionts in insects. Wolbachia typically spreads within host species by conferring direct fitness benefits, or by manipulating its host reproduction to favour infected over uninfected females. Under sufficient selective advantage, the mitochondrial haplotype associated with the favoured symbiotic strains will spread ( i.e . hitchhike), resulting in low mitochondrial genetic variation across the host species range. The common bluetail damselfly ( Ischnura elegans: van der Linden, 1820) has recently emerged as a model organism of the genetics and genomic signatures of range expansion during climate change. Although there is accumulating data on the consequences of such expansion on the genetic of I. elegans , no study has screened for Wolbachia in the damselfly genus Ischnura . Here, we present the biogeographic variation in Wolbachia prevalence and penetrance in 17 I. elegans populations across Europe and Japan, and from close relatives in the Mediterranean area (i.e. I. genei : Rambur, 1842 and I. saharensis : Aguesse, 1958). Results Our data reveal (a) multiple Wolbachia -strains, (b) potential transfer of the symbiont through hybridization, (c) higher infection rates at higher latitudes, and (d) reduced mitochondrial ersity in the north-west populations, indicative of hitchhiking associated with the selective sweep of the most common strain. We found low mitochondrial haplotype ersity in the Wolbachia -infected north-western European populations (Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy) of I. elegans , and, conversely, higher mitochondrial ersity in populations with low penetrance of Wolbachia (Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro and Cyprus). The timing of the selective sweep associated with infected lineages was estimated between 20 000 to 44 000 years before present, which is consistent with the end of the last glacial period about 20 000 ya. Conclusions Our findings provide an ex le of how endosymbiont infections ca shape spatial variation in their host evolutionary genetics during postglacial expansion. These results also challenge population genetic studies that do not consider the prevalence of symbionts in many insects, which can impact geographic patterns of mitochondrial genetic ersity.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 02-07-2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-07-2021
DOI: 10.1111/MEC.16065
Abstract: Population bottlenecks associated with founder events strongly impact the establishment and genetic makeup of populations. In addition to their genotype, founding in iduals also bring along parasites, as well as symbionts that can manipulate the phenotype of their host, affecting the host population establishment, dynamics and evolution. Thus, to understand introduction, invasion, and spread, we should identify the roles played by accompanying symbionts. In 1991, the parasitoid wasp, Hyposoter horticola , and its associated hyperparasitoid were accidentally introduced from the main Åland islands, Finland, to an isolated island in the archipelago, along with their host, the Glanville fritillary butterfly. Though the receiving island was unoccupied, the butterfly was present on some of the small islands in the vicinity. The three introduced species have persisted locally ever since. A strain of the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia has an intermediate prevalence in the parasitoid H . horticola across the main Åland population. The infection increases its susceptibility of to hyperparasitism. We investigated the establishment and spread of the parasitoid, along with patterns of prevalence of its symbiont using 323 specimens collected between 1992 and 2013, from five localities across Åland, including the source and introduced populations. Using 14 microsatellites and one mitochondrial marker, we suggest that the relatively erse founding population and occasional migration between islands might have facilitated the persistence of all isolated populations, despite multiple local population crashes. We also show that where the hyperparasitoid is absent, and thus selection against infected wasp genotypes is relaxed, there is near‐fixation of Wolbachia .
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-07-2018
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 20-08-2012
Abstract: We investigated inbreeding depression and genetic load in a small ( N e ∼ 100) population of the Glanville fritillary butterfly ( Melitaea cinxia ), which has been completely isolated on a small island [Pikku Tytärsaari (PT)] in the Baltic Sea for at least 75 y. As a reference, we studied conspecific populations from the well-studied metapopulation in the Åland Islands (ÅL), 400 km away. A large population in Saaremaa, Estonia, was used as a reference for estimating genetic ersity and N e . We investigated 58 traits related to behavior, development, morphology, reproductive performance, and metabolism. The PT population exhibited high genetic load ( L = 1 − W PT /W ÅL ) in a range of fitness-related traits including adult weight ( L = 0.12), flight metabolic rate ( L = 0.53), egg viability ( L = 0.37), and lifetime production of eggs in an outdoor population cage ( L = 0.70). These results imply extensive fixation of deleterious recessive mutations, supported by greatly reduced ersity in microsatellite markers and immediate recovery (heterosis) of egg viability and flight metabolic rate in crosses with other populations. There was no significant inbreeding depression in most traits due to one generation of full-sib mating. Resting metabolic rate was significantly elevated in PT males, which may be related to their short lifespan ( L = 0.25). The demographic history and the effective size of the PT population place it in the part of the parameter space in which models predict mutation accumulation. This population exemplifies the increasingly common situation in fragmented landscapes, in which small and completely isolated populations are vulnerable to extinction due to high genetic load.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-12-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41598-021-03327-3
Abstract: Models estimate that up to 80% of all butterfly and moth species host vertically transmitted endosymbiotic microorganisms, which can affect the host fitness, metabolism, reproduction, population dynamics, and genetic ersity, among others. The supporting empirical data are however currently highly biased towards the generally more colourful butterflies, and include less information about moths. Additionally, studies of symbiotic partners of Lepidoptera predominantly focus on the common bacterium Wolbachia pipientis , while infections by other inherited microbial partners have more rarely been investigated. Here, we mine the whole genome sequence data of 47 species of Erebidae moths, with the aims to both inform on the ersity of symbionts potentially associated with this Lepidoptera group, and discuss the potential of metagenomic approaches to inform on host associated microbiome ersity. Based on the result of Kraken2 and MetaPhlAn2 analyses, we found clear evidence of the presence of Wolbachia in four species. Our result also suggests the presence of three other bacterial symbionts ( Burkholderia spp., Sodalis spp. and Arsenophonus spp.) in three other moth species. Additionally, we recovered genomic material from bracovirus in about half of our s les. The detection of the latter, usually found in mutualistic association to braconid parasitoid wasps, may inform on host-parasite interactions that take place in the natural habitat of the Erebidae moths, suggesting either contamination with material from species of the host community network, or horizontal transfer of members of the microbiome between interacting species.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 30-08-2022
DOI: 10.1186/S12866-022-02602-1
Abstract: Maternally inherited bacterial symbionts are extremely widespread in insects. They owe their success to their ability to promote their own transmission through various manipulations of their hosts’ life-histories. Many symbionts however very often go undetected. Consequently, we have only a restricted idea of the true symbiont ersity in insects, which may hinder our understanding of even bigger questions in the field such as the evolution or establishment of symbiosis. In this study, we screened publicly available Lepidoptera genomic material for two of the most common insect endosymbionts, namely Wolbachia and Spiroplasma, in 1904 entries, encompassing 106 distinct species. We compared the performance of two screening software, Kraken2 and MetaPhlAn2, to identify the bacterial infections and using a baiting approach we reconstruct endosymbiont genome assemblies. Of the 106 species screened, 20 (19%) and nine (8.5%) were found to be infected with either Wolbachia or Spiroplasma , respectively. Construction of partial symbiotic genomes and phylogenetic analyses suggested the Wolbachia strains from the supergroup B were the most prevalent type of symbionts, while Spiroplasma infections were scarce in the Lepidoptera species screened here. Our results indicate that many of the host-symbiont associations remain largely unexplored, with the majority of associations we identify never being recorded before. This highlights the usefulness of public databases to explore the hidden ersity of symbiotic entities, allowing the development of hypotheses regarding host-symbiont associations. The ever-expanding genomic databases provide a erse databank from which one can characterize and explore the true ersity of symbiotic entities.
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 24-03-2018
DOI: 10.7287/PEERJ.PREPRINTS.26768V1
Abstract: The Lepidoptera is one of the most widespread and recognisable insect orders. Due to their remarkable ersity, economic and ecological importance, moths and butterflies have been studied extensively over the last 200 years. More recently, the relationship between Lepidoptera and their heritable microbial endosymbionts has received increasing attention. Heritable endosymbionts reside within the host’s body and are often, but not exclusively, inherited through the female line. Advancements in molecular genetics have revealed that host-associated microbes are both extremely prevalent among arthropods and highly erse. Furthermore, heritable endosymbionts have been repeatedly demonstrated to play an integral role in many aspects of host biology, particularly host reproduction. Here, we review the major findings of research of heritable microbial endosymbionts of butterflies and moths. We promote the Lepidoptera as important models in the study of reproductive manipulations employed by heritable endosymbionts, with the mechanisms underlying male-killing and feminisation currently being elucidated in both moths and butterflies. We also reveal that the vast majority of research undertaken of Lepidopteran endosymbionts concerns Wolbachia . While this highly prevalent bacteria is undoubtedly important, studies should move towards investigating the presence of other, and interacting endosymbionts, and we discuss the merits of examining the microbiome of Lepidoptera to this end. We finally consider the importance of understanding the influence of endosymbionts under global environmental change and when planning conservation management of endangered Lepidoptera species.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 20-08-2021
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 25-05-2017
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.3371
Abstract: Adaptation to local habitat conditions may lead to the natural ergence of populations in life-history traits such as body size, time of reproduction, mate signaling or dispersal capacity. Given enough time and strong enough selection pressures, populations may experience local genetic differentiation. The genetic basis of many life-history traits, and their evolution according to different environmental conditions remain however poorly understood. We conducted an association study on the Glanville fritillary butterfly, using material from five populations along a latitudinal gradient within the Baltic Sea region, which show different degrees of habitat fragmentation. We investigated variation in 10 principal components, cofounding in total 21 life-history traits, according to two environmental types, and 33 genetic SNP markers from 15 candidate genes. We found that nine SNPs from five genes showed strong trend for trait associations ( p -values under 0.001 before correction). These associations, yet non-significant after multiple test corrections, with a total number of 1,086 tests, were consistent across the study populations. Additionally, these nine genes also showed an allele frequency difference between the populations from the northern fragmented versus the southern continuous landscape. Our study provides further support for previously described trait associations within the Glanville fritillary butterfly species across different spatial scales. Although our results alone are inconclusive, they are concordant with previous studies that identified these associations to be related to climatic changes or habitat fragmentation within the Åland population.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-09-2021
DOI: 10.1186/S12862-021-01906-6
Abstract: Evolutionary processes can cause strong spatial genetic signatures, such as local loss of genetic ersity, or conflicting histories from mitochondrial versus nuclear markers. Investigating these genetic patterns is important, as they may reveal obscured processes and players. The maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia is among the most widespread symbionts in insects. Wolbachia typically spreads within host species by conferring direct fitness benefits, and/or by manipulating its host reproduction to favour infected over uninfected females. Under sufficient selective advantage, the mitochondrial haplotype associated with the favoured maternally-inherited symbiotic strains will spread (i.e. hitchhike), resulting in low mitochondrial genetic variation across the host species range. The common bluetail damselfly ( Ischnura elegans: van der Linden, 1820) has recently emerged as a model organism for genetics and genomic signatures of range expansion during climate change. Although there is accumulating data on the consequences of such expansion on the genetics of I. elegans , no study has screened for Wolbachia in the damselfly genus Ischnura . Here, we present the biogeographic variation in Wolbachia prevalence and penetrance across Europe and Japan (including s les from 17 populations), and from close relatives in the Mediterranean area (i.e. I. genei : Rambur, 1842 and I. saharensis : Aguesse, 1958). Our data reveal (a) multiple Wolbachia -strains, (b) potential transfer of the symbiont through hybridization, (c) higher infection rates at higher latitudes, and (d) reduced mitochondrial ersity in the north-west populations, indicative of hitchhiking associated with the selective sweep of the most common strain. We found low mitochondrial haplotype ersity in the Wolbachia -infected north-western European populations (Sweden, Scotland, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Italy) of I. elegans , and, conversely, higher mitochondrial ersity in populations with low penetrance of Wolbachia (Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro and Cyprus). The timing of the selective sweep associated with infected lineages was estimated between 20,000 and 44,000 years before present, which is consistent with the end of the last glacial period about 20,000 years. Our findings provide an ex le of how endosymbiont infections can shape spatial variation in their host evolutionary genetics during postglacial expansion. These results also challenge population genetic studies that do not consider the prevalence of symbionts in many insects, which we show can impact geographic patterns of mitochondrial genetic ersity.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 25-04-2012
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 20-07-2020
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-43538/V1
Abstract: Background Phylogenetically closely related strains of maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria are often found in phylogenetically ergent, and geographically distant insect host species. The interspecies transfer of the symbiont Wolbachia has been thought to have occurred repeatedly, facilitating its observed global pandemic. Few ecological interactions have been proposed as potential routes for the horizontal transfer of Wolbachia within natural insect communities. These routes are however likely to act only at the local scale, but how they may support the global distribution of some Wolbachia strains remains unclear. Results Here, we characterize the Wolbachia ersity in butterflies from the tropical forest regions of central Africa to discuss transfer at both local and global scales. We show that numerous species from both the Mylothris (family Pieridae) and Bicyclus (family Nymphalidae) butterfly genera are infected with similar Wolbachia strains, this despite only minor interclade contacts across the life cycles of the species within their partially overlapping ecological niches. The phylogenetic distance and differences in resource use between these genera rule out the role of ancestry, hybridization, and shared host-plants in the interspecies transfer of the symbiont. Furthermore, we could not identify any shared ecological factors to explain the presence of the strains in other arthropod species from other habitats, or even ecoregions. Conclusion Only the systematic surveys of the Wolbachia strains from entire species communities may offer the material currently lacking for understanding how Wolbachia may transfer between highly different and unrelated hosts, as well as across environmental scales.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 25-04-2012
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 14-09-2020
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-43538/V2
Abstract: Background Phylogenetically closely related strains of maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria are often found in phylogenetically ergent, and geographically distant insect host species. The interspecies transfer of the symbiont Wolbachia has been thought to have occurred repeatedly, facilitating its observed global pandemic. Few ecological interactions have been proposed as potential routes for the horizontal transfer of Wolbachia within natural insect communities. These routes are however likely to act only at the local scale, but how they may support the global distribution of some Wolbachia strains remains unclear. Results Here, we characterize the Wolbachia ersity in butterflies from the tropical forest regions of central Africa to discuss transfer at both local and global scales. We show that numerous species from both the Mylothris (family Pieridae) and Bicyclus (family Nymphalidae) butterfly genera are infected with similar Wolbachia strains, despite only minor interclade contacts across the life cycles of the species within their partially overlapping ecological niches. The phylogenetic distance and differences in resource use between these genera rule out the role of ancestry, hybridization, and shared host-plants in the interspecies transfer of the symbiont. Furthermore, we could not identify any shared ecological factors to explain the presence of the strains in other arthropod species from other habitats, or even ecoregions. Conclusion Only the systematic surveys of the Wolbachia strains from entire species communities may offer the material currently lacking for understanding how Wolbachia may transfer between highly different and unrelated hosts, as well as across environmental scales.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 13-10-2020
DOI: 10.21203/RS.3.RS-43538/V3
Abstract: BackgroundPhylogenetically closely related strains of maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria are often found in phylogenetically ergent, and geographically distant insect host species. The interspecies transfer of the symbiont Wolbachia has been thought to have occurred repeatedly, facilitating its observed global pandemic. Few ecological interactions have been proposed as potential routes for the horizontal transfer of Wolbachia within natural insect communities. These routes are however likely to act only at the local scale, but how they may support the global distribution of some Wolbachia strains remains unclear.ResultsHere, we characterize the Wolbachia ersity in butterflies from the tropical forest regions of central Africa to discuss transfer at both local and global scales. We show that numerous species from both the Mylothris (family Pieridae) and Bicyclus (family Nymphalidae) butterfly genera are infected with similar Wolbachia strains, despite only minor interclade contacts across the life cycles of the species within their partially overlapping ecological niches. The phylogenetic distance and differences in resource use between these genera rule out the role of ancestry, hybridization, and shared host-plants in the interspecies transfer of the symbiont. Furthermore, we could not identify any shared ecological factors to explain the presence of the strains in other arthropod species from other habitats, or even ecoregions.ConclusionOnly the systematic surveys of the Wolbachia strains from entire species communities may offer the material currently lacking for understanding how Wolbachia may transfer between highly different and unrelated hosts, as well as across environmental scales.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1420-9101.2009.01891.X
Abstract: Reproductive parasites such as Wolbachia can spread through uninfected host populations by increasing the relative fitness of the infected maternal lineage. However, empirical estimates of how fast this process occurs are limited. Here we use nucleotide sequences of male-killing Wolbachia bacteria and co-inherited mitochondria to address this issue in the island butterfly Hypolimnas bolina. We show that infected specimens scattered throughout the species range harbour the same Wolbachia and mitochondrial DNA as inferred from 6337 bp of the bacterial genome and 2985 bp of the mitochondrial genome, suggesting this strain of Wolbachia has spread across the South Pacific Islands at most 3000 years ago, and probably much more recently.
Publisher: Research Square Platform LLC
Date: 22-01-2020
Abstract: Background Many plant tissues are not resources of optimal nutritious value. They often lack essential nutritive elements and may contain a range of secondary toxic compounds. As nutritional imbalance in food intake may affect the performances of herbivores, the latter have evolved a variety of physiological mechanisms to cope with the challenges of digesting their plant-based diet. Some of these strategies involve living in association with symbiotic microbes that promote the digestion and detoxification of plant compounds, or supply their host with essential nutrients missing from the plant diet. In Lepidoptera, a growing body of evidence has, however, recently challenged the idea that herbivores are nutritionally dependent on their gut microbial community. It is suggested that many of the herbivorous species may not host a resident microbial community, but rather a transient one, acquired from their environment and diet. Results By coupling comparative meta-barcoding, immune gene expression and metabolomics analyses with experimental manipulation of the gut microbial community of pre-diapause larvae of the Glanville fritillary butterfly ( Melitaea cinxia, L.), we tested whether the larvae host a gut microbial community that supports growth and survival, and modulates metabolism and immunity during the early stages of development. We successfully altered this microbiota through antibiotic treatments, and consecutively restored it through fecal transplants from conspecifics. Under laboratory conditions, Firmicutes dominated the bacterial microbiota associated with the gut and frass of non-treated larvae, even though these Gram-positive bacteria were not found in association with the host plant, Plantago lanceolata . Furthermore our study suggests that the microbiota is involved in the up-regulation of an antimicrobial peptide, but did not affect the life-history traits or the metabolism of early instars larvae. Conclusions This study confirms the poor impact of the microbiota on erse life history traits of yet another Lepidoptera species. However, it also suggests that potential eco-evolutionary host-symbiont strategies that take place in the gut of herbivorous butterfly hosts might have been disregarded, particularly how the microbiota may affect the host immune system homeostasis.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-02-2017
Abstract: In butterflies, male reproductive success is highly related to the quality and the size of the spermatophore transferred to the female. The spermatophore is a capsule produced by the male during copulation, which in many species contains sperm in addition to a nuptial gift, and which is digested by the female after copulation. The nuptial gift may contribute to egg production and offspring quality, and in some cases also to female body maintenance. The production of the spermatophore, however, represents a cost for the male and, in polyandrous species, ejaculates are sometimes allocated adaptively across matings. Nonetheless, although the ecological factors affecting the reproductive success of female butterflies have been the topic of numerous studies, little information exists on the factors affecting males' contribution to reproduction, and the indirect impacts on female fecundity and fitness. We used the Glanville fritillary butterfly, Melitaea cinxia (Linnaeus, 1758) (Nymphalidae), in order to assess variation in male allocation to matings. In this species, smaller males produce smaller spermatophores, but variation in spermatophore size is not correlated with female reproductive success. We show that spermatophore size increases with male age at first mating, decreases with mating frequency and adult food-deprivation, and is not influenced by developmental food-limitation. The length of copulation period does not influence the spermatophore size nor influences the polyandrous mating behavior in this species. Male contribution to his spermatophore size is clearly influenced by his condition and adult-resource at the time of mating. Despite this variation, spermatophore size does not seem to have a direct impact on female reproductive output or mating behavior.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 15-06-2021
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PBIO.3001282
Abstract: Success and impact metrics in science are based on a system that perpetuates sexist and racist “rewards” by prioritizing citations and impact factors. These metrics are flawed and biased against already marginalized groups and fail to accurately capture the breadth of in iduals’ meaningful scientific impacts. We advocate shifting this outdated value system to advance science through principles of justice, equity, ersity, and inclusion. We outline pathways for a paradigm shift in scientific values based on multidimensional mentorship and promoting mentee well-being. These actions will require collective efforts supported by academic leaders and administrators to drive essential systemic change.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2010
DOI: 10.1111/J.1420-9101.2009.01891.X
Abstract: Reproductive parasites such as Wolbachia can spread through uninfected host populations by increasing the relative fitness of the infected maternal lineage. However, empirical estimates of how fast this process occurs are limited. Here we use nucleotide sequences of male-killing Wolbachia bacteria and co-inherited mitochondria to address this issue in the island butterfly Hypolimnas bolina. We show that infected specimens scattered throughout the species range harbour the same Wolbachia and mitochondrial DNA as inferred from 6337 bp of the bacterial genome and 2985 bp of the mitochondrial genome, suggesting this strain of Wolbachia has spread across the South Pacific Islands at most 3000 years ago, and probably much more recently.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-10-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S12866-020-02011-2
Abstract: Phylogenetically closely related strains of maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria are often found in phylogenetically ergent, and geographically distant insect host species. The interspecies transfer of the symbiont Wolbachia has been thought to have occurred repeatedly, facilitating its observed global pandemic. Few ecological interactions have been proposed as potential routes for the horizontal transfer of Wolbachia within natural insect communities. These routes are however likely to act only at the local scale, but how they may support the global distribution of some Wolbachia strains remains unclear. Here, we characterize the Wolbachia ersity in butterflies from the tropical forest regions of central Africa to discuss transfer at both local and global scales. We show that numerous species from both the Mylothris (family Pieridae) and Bicyclus (family Nymphalidae) butterfly genera are infected with similar Wolbachia strains, despite only minor interclade contacts across the life cycles of the species within their partially overlapping ecological niches. The phylogenetic distance and differences in resource use between these genera rule out the role of ancestry, hybridization, and shared host-plants in the interspecies transfer of the symbiont. Furthermore, we could not identify any shared ecological factors to explain the presence of the strains in other arthropod species from other habitats, or even ecoregions. Only the systematic surveys of the Wolbachia strains from entire species communities may offer the material currently lacking for understanding how Wolbachia may transfer between highly different and unrelated hosts, as well as across environmental scales.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 31-10-2021
DOI: 10.1101/825455
Abstract: The Hopkin’s host-selection principle (HHSP) suggests that organisms at higher trophic levels demonstrate a preference for the host species on which they developed during larval stage. Although investigated in many herbivorous and predatory insects, the HHSP has, to our knowledge, never been tested in the context of insects hosting selfish endosymbiotic passengers such as the maternally inherited bacterium Wolbachia pipientis . Here, we investigate the effect of Wolbachia infection on host pre-imaginal learning in the parasitoid wasp Trichogramma brassicae (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). We compare host-choice in Wolbachia -infected and uninfected adult female parasitoids after rearing them on two different Lepidopteran hosts, namely the flour moth Ephestia kuehniella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) or the grain moth Sitotroga cerealella (Lep.: Gelechiidae). We show that in T. brassicae, Wolbachia affect the pre-imaginal learning ability of female wasps. Wolbachia infected wasps do not show any host preference and easily switch hosts in the laboratory, while uninfected wasps significantly prefer to lay eggs on the host species they developed on. We discuss how the facilitation of a generalist strategy by Wolbachia may allow T. brassicae to escape intraspecific competition with their uninfected counterparts, and may have important evolutionary consequences for the host and its symbionts.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 08-05-2019
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.4595
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 03-09-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.09.02.458197
Abstract: Models estimate that up to 80% of all butterfly and moth species host vertically transmitted endosymbiotic microorganisms, which can affect the host fitness, metabolism, reproduction, population dynamics, and genetic ersity, among others. The supporting empirical data are however currently highly biased towards the generally more colourful butterflies, and include less information about moths. Additionally, studies of symbiotic partners of Lepidoptera predominantly focus on the common bacterium Wolbachia pipientis , while infections by other inherited microbial partners have more rarely been investigated. Here, we mine the whole genome sequence data of 47 species of Erebidae moths, with the aims to both inform on the ersity of symbionts potentially associated with this Lepidoptera group, and discuss the potential of metagenomic approaches to inform on their associated microbiome ersity. Based on the result of Kraken2 and MetaPhlAn2 analyses, we found clear evidence of the presence of Wolbachia in four species. Our result also suggests the presence of three other bacterial symbionts ( Burkholderia spp., Sodalis spp. and Arsenophonus spp.), in three other moth species. Additionally, we recovered genomic material from bracovirus in about half of our s les. The detection of the latter, usually found in mutualistic association to braconid parasitoid wasps, may inform on host-parasite interactions that take place in the natural habitat of the Erebidae moths, suggesting either contamination with material from species of the host community network, or horizontal transfer of members of the microbiome between interacting species.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 11-04-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.11.487824
Abstract: The bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia is best known for its ability to modify its host’s reproduction by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) to facilitate its own spread. Classical models predict either near-fixation of costly Wolbachia once the symbiont has overcome a threshold frequency (invasion barrier), or Wolbachia extinction if the barrier is not overcome. However, natural populations do not all follow this pattern: Wolbachia can also be found at low frequencies (below one half) that appear stable over time. Wolbachia is known to have pleiotropic fitness effects (beyond CI) on its hosts. Existing models typically focus on the possibility that these are negative. Here we consider the possibility that the symbiont provides direct benefits to infected females (e.g. resistance to pathogens) in addition to CI. We discuss an underappreciated feature of Wolbachia dynamics: that CI with additional fitness benefits can produce low-frequency ( 1 / 2) stable equilibria. Additionally, without a direct positive fitness effect, any stable equilibrium close to one half will be sensitive to perturbations, which make such equilibria unlikely to sustain in nature. The results hold for both diplodiploid and different haplodiploid versions of CI. We suggest that insect populations showing low-frequency Wolbachia infection might host CI-inducing symbiotic strains providing additional (hidden or known) benefits to their hosts, especially when classical explanations (ongoing invasion, source-sink dynamics) have been ruled out.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2013
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-11-2013
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.885
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 2020
Funder: H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2019
End Date: 2024
Funder: Academy of Finland
View Funded Activity