Phylogenomic analyses uncover origin and spread of the Wolbachia pandemic

Michael Gerth (), Marie-Theres Gansauge, Anne Weigert and Christoph Bleidorn
Additional contact information
Michael Gerth: Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig
Marie-Theres Gansauge: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Anne Weigert: Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig
Christoph Bleidorn: Molecular Evolution and Systematics of Animals, Institute of Biology, University of Leipzig

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Of all obligate intracellular bacteria, Wolbachia is probably the most common. In general, Wolbachia are either widespread, opportunistic reproductive parasites of arthropods or essential mutualists in a single group of filarial nematodes, including many species of medical significance. To date, a robust phylogenetic backbone of Wolbachia is lacking and consequently, many Wolbachia-related phenomena cannot be discussed in a broader evolutionary context. Here we present the first comprehensive phylogenomic analysis of Wolbachia supergroup relationships based on new whole-genome-shotgun data. Our results suggest that Wolbachia has switched between its two major host groups at least twice. The ability of some arthropod-infecting Wolbachia to universally infect and to adapt to a broad range of hosts quickly is restricted to a single monophyletic lineage (containing supergroups A and B). Thus, the currently observable pandemic has likely a single evolutionary origin and is unique within the radiation of Wolbachia strains.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6117 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms6117

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6117

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().