This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Duron, O.
Right arrow Articles by Weill, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Duron, O.
Right arrow Articles by Weill, M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2007, p. 4442-4448, Vol. 189, No. 12
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00142-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Variability and Expression of Ankyrin Domain Genes in Wolbachia Variants Infecting the Mosquito Culex pipiens{triangledown} ,{dagger}

Olivier Duron,1,{ddagger} Anthony Boureux,2 Pierre Echaubard,1 Arnaud Berthomieu,1 Claire Berticat,1 Philippe Fort,3 and Mylène Weill1*

Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (UM2, CNRS), Equipe Génétique de l'Adaptation, Université Montpellier 2 (C.C. 065), 34095 Montpellier, France,1 Institut de Génétique Humaine (UPR1142), CNRS, 141 rue de la Cardonille, 34396 Montpellier cedex 05, France,2 Centre de Recherche en Biochimie des Macromolécules (UMR5237), CNRS, 1919 route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 05, France3

Received 29 January 2007/ Accepted 4 April 2007

Wolbachia strains are maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria that infect many arthropod species and have evolved several different ways of manipulating their hosts, the most frequent way being cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). CI leads to embryo death in crosses between infected males and uninfected females as well as in crosses between individuals infected by incompatible Wolbachia strains. The mosquito Culex pipiens exhibits the highest crossing type variability reported so far. Our crossing data support the notion that CI might be driven by at least two distinct genetic units that control the CI functions independently in males and females. Although the molecular basis of CI remains unknown, proteins with ankyrin (ANK) domains represent promising candidates since they might interact with a wide range of host proteins. Here we searched for sequence variability in the 58 ANK genes carried in the genomes of Wolbachia variants infecting Culex pipiens. Only five ANK genes were polymorphic in the genomes of incompatible Wolbachia variants, and none correlated with the CI pattern obtained with 15 mosquito strains (representing 14 Wolbachia variants). Further analysis of ANK gene expression evidenced host- and sex-dependent variations, which did not improve the correlation. Taken together, these data do not support the direct implication of ANK genes in CI determinism.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (UMR 5554), Université Montpellier II (C.C. 065), F-34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France. Phone: (33) 4 67 14 32 62. Fax: (33) 4 67 14 36 22. E-mail: weill{at}isem.univ-montp2.fr

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 20 April 2007.

{dagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://jb.asm.org/.

{ddagger} Present address: University College London, Department of Biology, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, United Kingdom.

Journal of Bacteriology, June 2007, p. 4442-4448, Vol. 189, No. 12
0021-9193/07/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/JB.00142-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»