研究課題
特別研究員奨励費
In this project, we will study the infection dynamics of intracellular bacterial symbionts of termites. We will perform phylogenetic analyses to study the evolutionary history of individual bacterial lineages and determine their rates of infection and extinction. These analyses will detect parts of the trees that coevolve with termites, suggesting mutualistic relationships. Finally, we will compare the genomic content of putatively mutualistic strains and parasitic strains in order to identify relevant genetic mechanisms.
Many arthropods are infected by intracellular bacteria, such as Wolbachia, Cardinium and Rickettsia. These bacteria have profound influences on the ecology and evolution of their host and evolved several strategies to increase their own reproductive fitness, sometimes with costs for their hosts. Not all are parasites: some evolved mutualistic relationships with their hosts. Few studies investigated the epidemiological status of Wolbachia at a large scale. In this project, we investigated its infection dynamics in South American termites from whole metagenome sequencing of 2392 termite samples encompassing over 500 species.We reconstructed the termite phylogeny using mitogenomes and nuclear ultraconserved elements (UCEs). Baits targeting a total of 50616 UCEs were specifically designed for termites during this project. UCE-based phylogenies recovered with high support the deep- and shallow-level relationships recovered as yet only by transcriptome-enabled dataset, thereby demonstrating our bait set to be reliable and informative. Dedicated database paper and companion phylogenies were published.Read-mapping approach indicated that 1205 samples were infected by Wolbachia, with two supergroups dominating the South American infection landscape. In a few instances, the majority of samples from single species, with contrasted lifestyles, were infected on their whole range. Hence, such intimate symbioses might explain these species’ ecological success (in prep). These results carve the path to functional genomics and unravelling the true nature of termites-Wolbachia symbioses.
令和3年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。
すべて 2022 2021 2020
すべて 雑誌論文 (8件) (うち国際共著 1件、 査読あり 1件) 学会発表 (1件)
Proceedings of the Royal Society B
巻: In Press 号: 1975
10.1098/rspb.2022.0246
Systematic Entomology
巻: In Press 号: 4 ページ: 581-590
10.1111/syen.12548
bioRxiv
巻: -
10.1101/2021.12.09.472027
10.1101/2021.12.01.470872
10.1101/2021.12.02.471008
巻: 46 号: 1 ページ: 224-238
10.1111/syen.12458
Insect Conservation and Diversity
巻: In press 号: 4 ページ: 351-359
10.1111/icad.12414
els
巻: 1 ページ: 13-20
10.1002/9780470015902.a0029115
