Evolution of Wolbachia infection in the tribe Naupactini (Coleoptera, Curulionidae): a mix of old associations and recent transfers

MARCELA RODRIGUERO; LANTERI, A. A.; CONFALONIERI, V.A.

St Pierre d?Oléron

Congreso; 7th International Wolbachia conference; 2012

Evolution of Wolbachia infection in the tribe Naupactini (Coleoptera, Curulionidae): a mix of old associations and recent transfers Rodriguero M.1, Lanteri A.2 and Confalonieri V.1 1 Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2 División Entomología, Museo de La Plata, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata. La Plata, Argentina. Wolbachia infection has been detected in weevils of the tribe Naupactini. Although there is a correlation between reproductive mode and infection status (parthenogenetic species infected vs. sexual species not infected), a causal relationship was still not discovered. In the present contribution, we aimed to infer the events that shaped the current distribution of Wolbachia strains across the tribe Naupactini. With this purpose, we analyzed the history of the association between parasites and sexual and asexual weevil species. We typified Wolbachia strains using MLST and wsp sequences and estimated host phylogeny through morphological and molecular (COI gene) characters. A cophylogenetic analysis was applied using the software Jane. We detected a basal cospeciation event that suggests a long history of association between both groups. We also detected at least three events of horizontal transfers. We ruled out cophylogenetic inertia as an explanation to multihost strains. Instead, recent host switchings could account for those bacterial lineages broadly distributed. However, cophylogenetic inertia could have occurred in young sister species and also in cryptic species. It seems Wolbachia takes a long time to evolve, since the complex of species in status nascendi Naupactus cervinus has the same strain since at least 540,000 - 1,270,000 years. On the opposite, the species complex Aramigus tessellatus habours distantly related strains. In addition, pervasive recombination involving wsp gene was detected among strains infecting this group of weevils. Information about shared natural enemies and ecological traits could give some clues about the joint evolution of Wolbachia and these weevils.