Co-infection of Wolbachia and Arsenophonus varies with the population of Nilaparvata lugens
The symbionts Wolbachia and Arsenophonus were detected in all the 5 populations of N. lugens from China (Fig. 1). Compared to Wolbachia infection, Arsenophonus infection was more common in N. lugens, with the infection incidence of Arsenophonus ranging from 88.9% to 100%. In the MS and NJ populations, all the tested individuals were infected with Arsenophonus, and the infection incidence was significantly higher than that in the NT population (88.9%) (χ24 = 17.196, P=0.002, Fig. 1). In all 5 tested populations, Wolbachia infection always coexisted with Arsenophonus infection, and the co-infection incidence of Wolbachia and Arsenophonus was the equivalent to the incidence of Wolbachia infection. The co-infection incidence in the ZJ population was 50%, which was the highest value among the 5 populations, whereas the co-infection incidence in the MS and NJ populations was rare at only 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively, while this value in the NN and NT populations was 15.5% and 25%, respectively, and a significant difference was observed among populations (χ24 = 75.457, P<0.001, Fig. 1).
Fig. 1 Co-infection incidences of the symbiont Arsenophonus and Wolbachia in 5 populations of N. lugens. A refers to single infections of Arsenophonus, and AW refers to double infections of Arsenophonus and Wolbachia. NN, MS, NJ, ZJ and NT refer to the Nanning, Maanshan, Nanjing, Zhenjiang and Nantong populations from China, respectively.
Coexistence of Wolbachia does not negatively affect the density of Arsenophonus in most populations of Nilaparvata lugens
When Arsenophonus coexisted with Wolbachia in N. lugens, Arsenophonus density between the double-infected line and single-infected line varied based on the population (Fig. 2). In double-infected lines established from the NN, NJ, ZJ and NT populations, the Arsenophonus density was not significantly different from that in the single-infected lines (NN: t = 0.813, df = 4, P = 0.462; NJ: t = 0.661, df = 4, P=0.545; ZJ: t = 1.61, df = 4, P=0.183; NT: t = 0.803, df = 4, P = 0.467), whereas in double-infected lines established from the MS population, the Arsenophonus density was significantly higher than that in single-infected line (MS: t = 5.66, df = 4, P = 0.005).
Fig. 2 Comparison of Arsenophonus density in the double-infected and single-infected lines of N. lugens. A: single-infected line of Arsenophonus; and AW: double-infected line of Arsenophonus and Wolbachia. For each population, 60 adults including 30 females and 30 males were used for the analysis, and they divided into three biological replicates with 10 females and 10 males in each replicate. Significant differences between the double-infected and single-infected lines are marked by asterisks (**P<0.01).
Dominance of Wolbachia and Arsenophonus varies with the population of Nilaparvata lugens
The Wolbachia density in the double-infection lines varied with the population (Fig. 3). In the line established from the ZJ population, the Wolbachia density was significantly higher than that in the lines from the MS, NJ, and NT populations (F4,14=8.832, P=0.003).
Fig. 3 Comparison of the Wolbachia density in the superinfection lines of N. lugens established from 5 populations. There are three biological replicates, and 10 females and 10 males were used in each replicate. Values were the mean ± SE (n = 3). The same lower-case letter above the bars indicated there was no significant difference among populations at the 5% level (based on Tukey’s multiple comparison test).
The relative ratio of Wolbachia and Arsenophonus quantity in the double-infected lines of N. lugens also varied with the geographic population (Fig. 4). In the double-infected lines from the NN, ZJ and NT populations, the ratio of Wolbachia quantity was nearly 100% while that of Arsenophonus quantity was all less than 0.4%; however, in the line from the NJ population, Arsenophonus was the dominant symbiont and its ratio was 91.7%, and in the double-infected line from the MS population, the ratio of Arsenophonus quantity was 8.3%.
Fig. 4 Relative ratio of Wolbachia and Arsenophonus in the double-infection lines of N. lugens varied among geographic populations.