Wolbachia Endobacteria in Natural Populations of Culex pipiens of Iran and its Phylogenetic Congruence

<p><strong>Background:</strong><em> Wolbachia </em>are common intracellular bacteria that infect different groups of arthropods including mos­quitoes. These bacteria modify host biology and may induce feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing and cyto­plasmic incompatibility (CI). Recently <em>Wolbachia </em>is being nominated as a bio-agent and paratransgenic candidate to control mosquito borne diseases.<strong></strong><strong><br />Methods: </strong>Here we report the results of a survey for presence, frequency, and phylogenetic congruence of these en­dosymbiont bacteria in <em>Culex pipiens </em>populations in Northern, Central, and Southern parts of Iran using nested-PCR amplification of <em>wsp</em> gene.<strong><br />Results</strong>: <em>Wolbachia</em> DNA were found in 227 (87.3%) out of 260 wild-caught mosquitoes. The rate of infection in adult females ranged from 61.5% to 100%, while in males were from 80% to 100%. The Blast search and phyloge­netic analysis of the <em>wsp</em> gene sequence revealed that the <em>Wolbachia</em> strain from Iranian <em>Cx. pipiens </em>was identical to the <em>Wolbachia</em> strains of supergroup B previously reported in members of the <em>Cx. pipiens</em> complex. They had also identical sequence homology with the <em>Wolbachia</em> strains from a group of distinct arthropods including lepidopteran, wasps, flies, damselfly, thrips, and mites from remote geographical areas of the world.<strong><br />Conclusion:</strong> It is suggested that <em>Wolbachia</em> strains horizontally transfer between unrelated host organisms over evo­lutionary time. Also results of this study indicates that <em>Wolbachia</em> infections were highly prevalent infecting all <em>Cx. pipiens</em> populations throughout the country, however further study needs to define <em>Wolbachia </em>inter-population repro­ductive incompatibility pattern and its usefulness as a bio-agent control measure.