Wolbachia pipientis是一种广泛存在于节肢动物和线虫生殖组织中的细胞内共生菌,通过母系生殖细胞在寄主种群内垂直传播。据分析,Wolbachia在昆虫中的感染率大约为66%,是昆虫中分布最广泛的胞内共生菌。Wolbachia能够以多种方式调控寄主的生殖行为,包括诱导细胞质不亲和、诱导孤雌生殖、雌性化、杀雄作用等。近10年来,Wolbachia的研究在多个领域都取得了长足进展。本文介绍了Wolbachia的多样性与分布、对寄主生殖行为的影响、基因组结构,以及其与寄主在基因组水平上的相互作用等领域的最新研究成果,并展望了Wolbachia研究的发展趋势。
Wolbachia pipientis is a common and maternally inherited endosymbiont that resides in the reproductive tissues of many arthropods and nematodes.Recent surveys have found Wolbachia in over 66% of insect species.As a microbial manipulator,Wolbachia can cause a number of reproductive alterations in its hosts,such as cytoplasmic incompatibility(CI) ,inducing parthenogenesis(PI) ,feminization and male-killing.Considerable progress in research on Wolbachia has been made in the past 10 years.In this paper,the biology of Wolbachia is reviewed,including its distribution,diversity,genome,mitochondrial DNA polymorphism,horizontal gene transfer to hosts and phenotypic effects on host.Directions for future research are also discussed.