Infection by virulent w MelPop Wolbachia improves learning and memory capacity in Drosophila melanogaster

文献类型： 外文期刊

第一作者： Chen, Meng-Yan

作者： Chen, Meng-Yan;Li, Dong;Wang, Zhi-Ning;Xu, Feng-Zhen;Feng, Yi-Wei;Yu, Qiong-Lin;Wang, Ying-Ying;Wang, Yu-Feng;Zhang, Shu;Zhang, Shu

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关键词： Drosophila melanogaster; wMelPop; memory; RNA sequencing

期刊名称：ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR （ 影响因子：2.5； 五年影响因子：2.8 ）

ISSN： 0003-3472

年卷期： 2024 年 212 卷

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收录情况： SCI

摘要： Wolbachia are intracellular symbiotic bacteria widely distributed in arthropods. Many studies have focused on the effects of Wolbachia infection on host reproduction; however, the effects of Wolbachia on the neurobehaviour of hosts are largely unknown, despite their distribution in the host brain. As a virulent strain of Wolbachia, wMelPop can rapidly proliferate in adult tissues, including the brain, implying the potential to impact neurobehaviour in insect hosts. In this study, using the conditioning and testing protocol with sugar reward, we found that despite being virulent, wMelPop infection improves both short- and long-term memory in Drosophila melanogaster. By RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we compared the transcription profiles of 4-6-day-old fly heads with and without wMelPop and identified 1284 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) as having a significant and at least a two-fold change in expression, of which 675 genes were upregulated and 609 were downregulated in the presence of wMelPop. Surprisingly, except for involvement in proteolysis and immune responses, many of the DEGs were associated with reproductive behaviour, especially the regulation of female postmating responses. When compared with RNA-seq data from 4-6-day-old wMel-infected fly heads, we found that both groups shared 421 DEGs. Fifteen genes were selected for quantitative RT-PCR. Twelve genes showed the same changes as RNA-seq analyses. These results suggest that wMelPop infection in Drosophila might enhance the insect host's memory by altering host gene expressions in the head. As wMelPop has been demonstrated to be the strongest Dengue blocking strain known, the behavioural and ecological consequences of wMelPop infection in the insect hosts may be of great importance in controlling insectborne diseases and agricultural pests. Our data also provide a significant panel of candidate genes to help elucidate the underlying mechanisms of Wolbachia-induced neurobehavioural alterations in arthropod hosts. (c) 2024 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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