Culex pipiens crossing type diversity is governed by an amplified and polymorphic operon of Wolbachia

Manon Bonneau, Celestine Atyame, Marwa Beji, Fabienne Justy, Martin Cohen-Gonsaud, Mathieu Sicard () and Mylène Weill ()
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Manon Bonneau: UMR CNRS-IRD-EPHE-Université de Montpellier
Celestine Atyame: UMR CNRS-IRD-EPHE-Université de Montpellier
Marwa Beji: University of Tunis El Manar
Fabienne Justy: UMR CNRS-IRD-EPHE-Université de Montpellier
Martin Cohen-Gonsaud: UMR CNRS-INSERM-Université de Montpellier
Mathieu Sicard: UMR CNRS-IRD-EPHE-Université de Montpellier
Mylène Weill: UMR CNRS-IRD-EPHE-Université de Montpellier

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Culex pipiens mosquitoes are infected with Wolbachia (wPip) that cause an important diversity of cytoplasmic incompatibilities (CIs). Functional transgenic studies have implicated the cidA-cidB operon from wPip and its homolog in wMel in CI between infected Drosophila males and uninfected females. However, the genetic basis of the CI diversity induced by different Wolbachia strains was unknown. We show here that the remarkable diversity of CI in the C. pipiens complex is due to the presence, in all tested wPip genomes, of several copies of the cidA-cidB operon, which undergoes diversification through recombination events. In 183 isofemale lines of C. pipiens collected worldwide, specific variations of the cidA-cidB gene repertoires are found to match crossing types. The diversification of cidA-cidB is consistent with the hypothesis of a toxin–antitoxin system in which the gene cidB co-diversifies with the gene cidA, particularly in putative domains of reciprocal interactions.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-02749-w

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