Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jules Rodrigues, Emilie Lefoulon, Laurent Gavotte, Marco Perillat-Sanguinet, Benjamin Makepeace, Coralie Martin, Cyrille A. D'Haese
Summary: Wolbachia, an endosymbiotic bacteria, infects diverse arthropods and nematode hosts and has various interactions. The taxonomy of Wolbachia is defined by supergroups, while its evolutionary history involves horizontal transfers and secondary losses. In this study, the diversity of Wolbachia infecting springtails was characterized, and new genotypes were identified. The phylogeny of Wolbachia was rooted using a different group infecting plant-parasitic nematodes. It is hypothesized that the ancestor of Wolbachia was consumed by soil-dwelling nematodes and was then transferred to aphids and subsequently infected edaphic arthropods before expanding to other terrestrial arthropods and filarial nematodes.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Ewa Chrostek, Nelson Martins, Marta S. Marialva, Luis Teixeira
Summary: Temperature modulates the antiviral protection conferred by Wolbachia in Drosophila, with higher temperatures leading to more lethal viruses and reduced Wolbachia protection. Host developmental temperature is a determinant of the level of antiviral protection provided by Wolbachia.
Article
Microbiology
Amit Kumar, Daphne H. P. Ng, Sakcham Bairoliya, Bin Cao
Summary: In densely populated cities with limited land, storing surface water in underground spaces is a potential solution to meet the rising demand for clean water. Additionally, the deployment of floating solar photovoltaic (PV) systems over water has increased due to the imperative need for renewable solar energy and limited land resources. However, the influence of the absence of sunlight on microbial community function and water quality is largely unknown. This study aimed to reveal microbial processes and water quality dynamics in surface water stored in the dark.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Zhijun Zhang, Jiahui Zhang, Qizhang Chen, Jianyun He, Xiaowei Li, Yunsheng Wang, Yaobin Lu
Summary: In this study, a complete genome assembly of Wolbachia strain wFI in Thysanopteran insects was successfully obtained using Nanopore long reads and Illumina short reads. The assembled genome consisted of 1838 protein-coding genes and various other functional genes. The research revealed the nutritional mutualism between Wolbachia and flower thrips and provided a valuable resource for further studies on the interactions between Wolbachia and its host.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Shannon Quek, Louise Cerdeira, Claire L. Jeffries, Sean Tomlinson, Thomas Walker, Grant L. Hughes, Eva Heinz
Summary: This study identified two high-density Wolbachia strains in two Anopheles mosquito species, providing possibilities for using these endosymbionts to block the transmission of malaria parasites. Genomic analysis revealed that both strains retained key metabolic and transport pathways, as well as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) factor genes.
MICROBIAL GENOMICS
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Luisa Maria Inacio da Silva, Filipe Zimmer Dezordi, Marcelo Henrique Santos Paiva, Gabriel Luz Wallau
Summary: Wolbachia is a symbiotic bacterium that infects several arthropods and nematodes. Although it has shown success in controlling pathogens in mosquito populations, its abundance and distribution in most mosquito species remain poorly understood. Multiple detection methods and consideration of population dynamics are necessary to accurately assess Wolbachia infection status in host species.
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Megan W. Jones, Laura C. Fricke, Cody J. Thorpe, Lauren O. Vander Esch, Amelia R. Lindsey
Summary: Wolbachia is a maternally transmitted intracellular bacterium that manipulates the reproduction and physiology of arthropods, resulting in drastic effects on the fitness, evolution, and even speciation of its hosts. Some hosts naturally harbor multiple strains of Wolbachia that are stably transmitted across generations, but almost nothing is known about the factors that limit or promote these coinfections, which can have profound effects on the host's biology and evolution and are under consideration as an insect-management tool.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Hiroshi Arai, Takumi Takamatsu, Shiou-Ruei Lin, Tetsuya Mizutani, Tsutomu Omatsu, Yukie Katayama, Madoka Nakai, Yasuhisa Kunimi, Maki N. Inoue
Summary: Many microbes induce male killing (MK) in various insect species, but it is not clear whether they adopt similar or different MK mechanisms. Researchers found that Wolbachia and Spiroplasma disrupt the sex determination cascade by inducing female-type splice variants of doublesex in male insects. In addition, Wolbachia and Spiroplasma also trigger abnormal apoptosis in male embryos.
APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Jan P. Dudzic, Caitlin I. Curtis, Brent E. Gowen, Steve J. Perlman
Summary: Wolbachia symbionts are successful host-associated microbes that infect arthropods and nematodes. This study discovered a highly divergent strain of Wolbachia in an insect-parasitic nematode, Howardula sp., which was not previously known to harbor Wolbachia. The genome of this Wolbachia strain is highly reduced and smaller than other known Wolbachia genomes, but it has retained genes related to haem biosynthesis.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Microbiology
Mark Deehan, Weiwei Lin, Benjamin Blum, Andrew Emili, Horacio Frydman
Summary: Autophagy is an intracellular degradation pathway involved in innate immunity. Pathogenic bacteria have evolved several mechanisms to escape degradation or exploit autophagy to acquire host nutrients. In the case of endosymbionts, which often have commensal or mutualistic interactions with the host, autophagy is not well characterized. We utilized tissue-specific autophagy mutants to determine if Wolbachia, a vertically transmitted obligate endosymbiont of Drosophila melanogaster, is regulated by autophagy in somatic and germ line cell types. Our analysis revealed core autophagy proteins Atg1 and Atg8 and a selective autophagy-specific protein Ref(2)p negatively regulate Wolbachia in the hub, a male gonad somatic cell type. Furthermore, we determined that the Wolbachia effector protein, CifB, modulates autophagy-Wolbachia interactions, identifying a new host-related pathway which these bacterial proteins interact with. In the female germ line, the cell type necessary for inheritance of Wolbachia through vertical transmission, we discovered that bulk autophagy mediated by Atg1 and Atg8 positively regulates Wolbachia density, whereas Ref(2)p had no effect. Global metabolomics of fly ovaries deficient in germ line autophagy revealed reduced lipid and carbon metabolism, implicating metabolites from these pathways as positive regulators of Wolbachia. Our work provides further understanding of how autophagy affects bacteria in a cell type-dependent manner. Autophagy is a eukaryotic intracellular degradation pathway which can act as an innate immune response to eliminate pathogens. Conversely, pathogens can evolve proteins which modulate the autophagy pathway to subvert degradation and establish an infection. Wolbachia, a vertically transmitted obligate endosymbiont which infects up to 40% of insect species, is negatively regulated by autophagy in whole animals, but the specific molecular mechanism and tissue which govern this interaction remain unknown. Our studies use cell type-specific autophagy mutants to reveal that Wolbachia is negatively regulated by selective autophagy in the soma, while nonselective autophagy positively regulates Wolbachia in the female germ line. These data provide evidence that cell type can drive different basal autophagy programs which modulate intracellular microbes differently. Additionally, we identified that the Wolbachia effector CifB acts in the selective autophagy pathway to aid in intracellular bacterial survival, providing a new function for CifB beyond its previously identified role in reproductive manipulation.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Yessica Roque-Diaz, Martina Sanadar, Dong Han, Montserrat Lopez-Mesas, Manuel Valiente, Marilena Tolazzi, Andrea Melchior, Daniele Veclani
Summary: This review discussed the environmental occurrence, transformation, ecotoxicity, and removal treatment of platinum cytostatic compounds. Literature analysis revealed low platinum concentrations in hospital effluents and highlighted that hospitals contribute only a minor fraction of total Pt CDs in the environment due to slow excretion rates. Limited data on the health effects of exposure to low levels of Pt CDs on flora and fauna were presented, indicating the need for further ecotoxicity studies.
Review
Immunology
Martina Palatella, Stephane M. M. Guillaume, Michelle A. A. Linterman, Jochen Huehn
Summary: The increase in the number of older people globally poses a challenge to modern societies, as aging leads to a decline in the immune system, including an increase in regulatory T cells. This suppresses immune responses against non-self-antigens in the elderly and reduces the effectiveness of vaccines.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Michael Olumekor, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Zhan Su
Summary: Effective Altruism (EA) is a prominent socio-philosophical movement, but its discourse on entrepreneurship may promote dark triad behavior. While this behavior may lead to financial success, it can also result in morally bankrupt and even illegal practices among entrepreneurs.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Hongzhang Xu, Aaron Tang, Jamie Pittock
Summary: China's recent commitments to the Paris Agreement have raised concerns about their feasibility. In order to achieve carbon neutrality, China has implemented extreme emission reduction measures, but the side-effects of its climate ambition have been overlooked. An intersectional and just transitions perspective is needed to examine limitations and trade-offs for broader societal goals.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Review
Immunology
Mine Altinli, Esther Schnettler, Mathieu Sicard
Summary: Mosquitoes not only transmit arboviruses but also carry mosquito-associated insect-specific viruses. Recent advances in viral metagenomics have revealed the abundance of viruses without visible symptoms. Studies have shifted towards investigating single-stranded RNA mosquito viruses and their interference with arboviruses in female adults.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR AND INFECTION MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
