biological control
Hypothenemus hampei
Endosimbionte
control biológico
Hypothenemus hampei
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Wolbachia are common endosymbiotic bacteria of insects known for manipulating host reproduction in different ways. In this study we report Wolbachia infection in the parasitoid wasp Prorops nasuta, an insect introduced into the Americas for the biological control of the coffee berry borer Hypothenemus hampei. PCR screening for Wolbachia infection based on the endosymbiont marker genes fstZ and wsp resulted positive in wasps samples collected in coffee fields from Colombia and Brazil and obtained from a laboratory colony in Mexico. DNA sequence analyses of the wsp gene identified two different sequence clones that suggest multiple Wolbachia isolates infecting these wasp populations. Additionally, phylogenetic analysis of the ftsZ and wsp sequences located these Wolbachia isolates into supergroup A. Whether Wolbachia plays a role affecting reproduction in P. nasuta remains unclear. However, different scenarios of how Wolbachia-infection outcomes may affect insect-pest control using parasitoids are discussed.
PDF (Spanish)
FLIP
