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Transovarian Transmission of Blochmannia and Wolbachia Endosymbionts in the Neotropical Weaver Ant Camponotus textor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

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Abstract

Camponotus is a hyper-diverse ant genus that is associated with the obligate endosymbiont Blochmannia, and often also with Wolbachia, but morphological studies on the location of these bacteria in the queen’s ovaries during oogenesis remain limited. In the present study, we used the Neotropical weaver ant Camponotus textor to characterize the ovary using histology (HE) techniques, and to document the location of Blochmannia and Wolbachia during oogenesis through fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). This is the first morphological report of these two bacteria in the same host with polytrophic meroistic ovaries and reveals that Blochmannia is found inside late-stage oocytes and Wolbachia is associated with the nuclei of the nurse cells. Our results provide insights into the developmental sequence of when these bacteria reach the egg, with Blochmannia establishing itself in the egg first, and Wolbachia only reaching the egg shortly before completing egg development. Studies such as this provide understanding about the mechanisms and timing of the establishment of these endosymbionts in the host.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Priscila Cintra Socolowski and Gerson Mello Souza for their help with the techniques used in the present study. M.O.R. thanks CAPES Foundation (process no. 007343/2014-00) the Ministry of Education of Brazil, (Brasília DF 70.040-020) for their financial support. A.S.V. thanks Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, grants No. 157837/2015-7. M.C.P. thanks CAPES Foundation. C.S.M. acknowledges the Field Dreams program of The Women’s Board of The Field Museum for financial support. O.C.B. thanks Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament of Biology e Center for Studies on Social Insects, Biosciense Institute, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Campus Rio Claro, Avenida 24A, 1515, Bela Vista, Rio Claro, SP, 13506-900, Brazil

    Manuela Oliveira Ramalho, Alexsandro Santana Vieira, Mayara Cristina Pereira & Odair Correa Bueno

  2. Field Museum of Natural History, Department of Science and Education, Integrative Research Center, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Manuela Oliveira Ramalho & Corrie Saux Moreau

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  1. Manuela Oliveira Ramalho
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Correspondence to Manuela Oliveira Ramalho.

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284_2018_1459_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Supplementary Fig. 1—Photomicrography of the region of the Camponotus textor germarium submitted to flourescence in situ hybridization (FISH) without the presence of Blochmannia and Wolbachia. g germarium region, sc stem cells. Cell nuclei were stained with DAPI and are blue (TIF 5598 KB)

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Ramalho, M.O., Vieira, A.S., Pereira, M.C. et al. Transovarian Transmission of Blochmannia and Wolbachia Endosymbionts in the Neotropical Weaver Ant Camponotus textor (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Curr Microbiol 75, 866–873 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-018-1459-3

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