Elucidation of the machanism of how Wolbachia accomplishes the male-specific killing

• Project/Area Number: 15K14893
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Insect science
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Katsuma Susumu 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 准教授 (20378863)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: ボルバキア / 遺伝子量補償 / 性決定 / 性操作 / 宿主制御 / チョウ目昆虫 / トランスクリプトーム / 共生細菌 / アワノメイガ / オス殺し / 性決定カスケード / Masc遺伝子

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Wolbachia is an endosymbiotic bacterium that infects a wide range of insect species. Infection of Ostrinia furnacalis by Wolbachia causes the production of all-female progeny. In the present study, we performed RNA-seq analysis of Wolbachia-infected and Wolbachia-uninfected Ostrinia embryos and revealed that Wolbachia infection markedly reduces the mRNA level of Masc, a gene that encodes a protein required for both masculinization and dosage compensation. Further bioinformatic analysis elucidated that dosage compensation of Z-linked genes fails in Wolbachia-infected Ostrinia embryos. In addition, injection of Masc cRNA into Wolbachia-infected embryos rescued male progeny. These results show that Wolbachia-induced male-killing is caused by a failure of dosage compensation via repression of the mRNA level of the host masculinizing gene Masc.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] The Endosymbiotic Bacterium Wolbachia Selectively Kills Male Hosts by Targeting the Masculinizing Gene (2015)
  • Author(s): Fukui T, Kawamoto M, Shoji K, Kiuchi T, Sugano S, Shimada T, Suzuki Y, Katsuma S
  • Journal Title: PLoS Pathogens Volume: 11 Issue: 7 Pages: e1005048-e1005048
  • DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005048
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Presentation] 愛知県犬山市産のOstrinia属における共生細菌によらない性比異常現象 (2017)
  • Author(s): 濱中陽子, 福井崇弘, 藤井毅, 石川幸男, 嶋田透, 勝間進
  • Organizer: 第61回日本応用動物昆虫学会大会合同大会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京農工大学小金井キャンパス（東京都小金井市）
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-28
• [Presentation] 共生細菌Wolbachia が持つオス殺し因子の 探索 (2017)
  • Author(s): 福井崇弘, 濱中陽子, 川本宗孝, 庄司佳祐, 木内隆史, 菅野純夫, 嶋田透, 鈴木穣, 勝間進
  • Organizer: 平成29年度 蚕糸・昆虫機能利用学術講演会
  • Place of Presentation: 農林水産技術会議事務局筑波産学連携支援センター本館（茨城県つくば市）
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-21
• [Presentation] Transcriptome analysis of Ostrinia furnacalis early embryos infected with a male-killing Wolbachia (2017)
  • Author(s): Yoko Hamanaka, Takahiro Fukui, Keisuke Shoji, Munetaka Kawamoto, Takashi Kiuchi, Sumio Sugano, Toru Shimada, Yutaka Suzuki, Susumu Katsuma
  • Organizer: APSERI2017
  • Place of Presentation: バンコク（タイ）
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-01
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 共生細菌Wolbachiaは、宿主の遺伝子量補償システムを標的としてオス殺しを引き起こす (2015)
  • Author(s): 福井崇弘・川本宗孝・庄司佳祐・木内隆史・菅野純夫・嶋田透・鈴木穣・勝間進
  • Organizer: 第75回昆虫病理研究会
  • Place of Presentation: 北海道大学農学部
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-25
• [Remarks] 東京大学昆虫遺伝研究室
  • URL: http://papilio.ab.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/igb/
• [Remarks] 共生細菌ヴォルバキアの「オス殺し」は宿主昆虫のオス化因子の発現を抑制することで達成される
  • URL: http://www.a.u-tokyo.ac.jp/topics/2015/20150715-1.html