Wolbachia is a maternally inherited bacterium ubiquitous in insects that has attracted interest as a prospective insect pest-control agent. Here, we detected and characterized Wolbachia in the leafhoppers Matsumuratettix hiroglyphicus (Matsumura) (Cicadellidae: Hemiptera) and Yamatotettix flavovittatus Matsumura (Cicadellidae: Hemiptera), insect vectors of the phytoplasma that cause white leaf disease in sugarcane. The 16S rRNA and wsp gene markers revealed that Wolbachia was not present in the M. hiroglyphicus but naturally occurs in Y. flavovittatus. Additionally, the infection rates in adult leafhoppers ranged from 0 to 100% depending on geographic location. Moreover, Wolbachia was detected in the eggs and first- to fifth-instar nymphs of Y. flavovittatus. A phylogenic tree of Wolbachia indicated that it resided in the monophyletic supergroup B clade and clustered in the Ori subgroup. Furthermore, fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that Wolbachia localized to the egg apices, randomly distributed in the egg cytoplasm, and was concentrated in the nymph and adult bacteriomes, as well as occasional detection in the thorax and abdomen. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to demonstrate the prevalence of Wolbachia in the leafhopper Y. flavovittatus. The obtained results would provide useful information for the future development of Wolbachia as a biological control agent for the leafhopper vectors.

中文翻译：

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甘蔗白叶病叶蝉媒介中的Wolbachia（Rickettsiales：Alphaproteobacteria）感染。

Wolbachia是一种在昆虫中普遍存在的母体遗传细菌，作为一种潜在的害虫防治剂引起了人们的兴趣。在这里，我们在引起甘蔗白叶病的植物原虫的昆虫载体Matsumuratettix hiroglyphicus（Matsumura）（Cicadellidae：Hemiptera）和Yamatotettix flavovittatus Matsumura（Cicadellidae：Hemiptera）的叶蝉中检测并鉴定了Wolbachia。16S rRNA和wsp基因标记表明Wolbachia不存在于M. hiroglyphicus中，但自然存在于黄杆菌中。此外，取决于地理位置，成年叶蝉的感染率范围为0％至100％。此外，沃尔巴克氏体在鸡蛋中检测和的第一至第五龄若虫Y. flavovittatus。Wolbachia的系统发育树表明，它位于单系统超群B进化枝中，并且聚集在Ori子群中。此外，荧光原位杂交显示Wolbachia定位于卵的顶端，随机分布在卵的细胞质中，并集中在若虫和成虫的细菌群中，偶而在胸腔和腹部中被检测到。据我们所知，本研究是第一个证明沃尔巴克氏菌患病率的研究在叶蝉Y. flavovittatus中。获得的结果将为Wolbachia作为叶蝉载体的生物防治剂的未来发展提供有用的信息。