Summary
Wolbachia infecting the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus, were successfully maintained and cultivated in two insect and one mammalial cell lines. The bacteria with the planthopper ovary were introduced into the flasks with the cultures of the cell lines. The Wolbachia proliferated in mosquito (Aedes albopictus) and lepidopteran (Heliothis zea) cell lines and in the mouse cell line, L929. Proliferation of Wolbachia was confirmed by electron microscopy and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. This simple method for the cultivation of Wolbachia was applicable to other strains of Wolbachia, such as the one found in the lepidopteran eggs, and should facilitate fundamental and applied studies of this important group of microorganisms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
André, A. v. S.; Blackwell, N. M.; Hall, L. R., et al. The role of endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria in the pathogenesis of river blindness. Science 295:1892–1895; 2002.
Bordenstein, S. R.; O’Hara, F. P.; Werren, J. H. Wolbachia-induced incompatibility precedes other hybrid incompatibilities in Nasonia. Nature 409:707–710; 2001.
Dobson, S. L.; Marsland, E. J.; Veneti Z.; Bourtzis, K.; O’Neill, S. L. Characterization of Wolbachia host cell range via the in vitro establisment of infections. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 68:656–660; 2002.
Fujii, Y.; Kageyama, D.; Hoshizaki, S.; Ishikawa, H.; Sasaki T. Transfection of Wolbachia in Lepidoptera: the feminizer of Azuki bean borer Ostrinia scapulalis causes male-killing in the Mediterranean flour moth Ephestia, kuehniella. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 268:855–859; 2001.
Heinzen, R. A.; Hayes, S. F.; Peacock, M. G.; Hackstadt, T. Directional actin polymerization associated with spotted fever group rickettsia infection of Vero cells. Infect. Immun. 61:1926–1935; 1993.
Hurst, G. D. D.; Jiggins, F. M.; von der Schulenburg, J. H. G., et al. Malekilling Wolbachia in two species of insect. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 266:735–740; 1999.
mcIntosh, A. H.; Ignoffo, C. M. Characterization of five cells lines established from species of Heliothis. Appl. Entomol. Zool. 18:262–269; 1983.
Mitsuhashi, J. Preliminary report on the primary culture of smaller brown planthopper cells in vitro (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). Appl. Entomol. Zool. 4:151–153; 1969.
Munderloh, U. G.; Kurtti, T. J. Cellular and molcular interrelationships between ticks and prokaryotic tick-borne pathogens. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 40:221–243; 1995.
Noda, H.; Koizumi, Y.; Zhang, Q.; Deng, K. Infection density of Wolbachia and incompatibility level in two planthopper species, Laodelphax striatellus and Sogatella furcifera. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 31:727–737; 2001.
Noda, H.; Munderloh, U. G.; Kurtti, T. J. Endosymbionts of ticks and their relationship to Wolbachia spp. and tick-borne pathogens of human and animals. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 63:3926–3932; 1997.
O’Neill, S. L., Giordano, R.; Colbert, A. M. E.; Karr, T. L.; Robertson, H. M. 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial endosymbionts associated with cytoplasmic incompatibility in insects. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:2699–2702; 1992.
O’Neill, S. L.; Hoffman, A. A.; Werren, J. H. Influential passengers inherited microorganisms and arthropod reproduction. New York: Oxford University Press; 1997a.
O’Neill, S. L.; Pettigrew, M. M.; Sinkins, S. P.; Braig, H. R.; Andreadis, T. G.; Tesh, R. B. In vitro cultivation of Wolbachia pipientis in an Aedes albopictus cell line. Insect. Mol. Biol. 6:33–39; 1997b.
Rousset F.; Vautrin, D.; Solignac, M. Molecular identification of Wolbachia, the agent of cytoplasmic incompatibility in Drosophila simulans, and variability in relation with host mitochondrial types. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 247:163–168; 1992.
Sinkins, S. P.; Curtis, C. F.; O’Neill, S. L. The potential application of inherited symbiont systems to pest control. In: O’Neill, S. L.; Hoffmann, A. A., Werren, J. H., ed Influenctial passengers, inherited microorganisms and arthropod reproduction. New York: Oxford University Press; 1997:155–175.
Stouthamer, R.; Breeuwer, J. A.; Hurst, G. D. D. Wolbachia pipientis: microbial manipulator of arthropod reproduction. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 53:71–102; 1999.
Tram, U.; Sullivan, W. Role of delayed nuclear envelope breakdown and mitosis in Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility. Science 296:1124–1126; 2002.
Weisburg, W. G.; Barns, S. M.; Pelletier, D. A.; Lane, D. J. I6S ribosomal DNA amplification for phylogenetic study. J. Bacteriol. 173:697–703; 1991.
Weiss, E.; Dasch, G.; Chang, K.-P.; Genus VII Wolbachia Hertig 1936, 472AL. In: Krieg, N. R.; Holt, J. G., ed. Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology, vol. 1. Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins; 1984:711–713.
White, T.J.; Bruns, T.; Lee, S.; Taylor, J. Amplification and direct sequencing of fungal ribosomal RNA genes for phylogenetics. In: Innis, M. A.; Gelfand, D. H.; Sninsky, J. J.; White, T. J., ed. PCR protocols. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 1990:315–322.
Winkler, H. H.; Miller, E. T. Phospholipase A and the interaction of Rickettsia prowazekii, and mouse fibroblasts (L-929 cells). Infect. Immun. 38:109–113; 1982.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Noda, H., Miyoshi, T. & Koizumi, Y. In vitro cultivation of Wolbachia in insect and mammalian cell lines. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 38, 423–427 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1290/1071-2690(2002)038<0423:IVCOWI>2.0.CO;2
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1290/1071-2690(2002)038<0423:IVCOWI>2.0.CO;2