The inadequacy of standard mosquito control strategies calls for ecologically safe novel approaches, for example the use of biological agents such as the endosymbiotic α‐proteobacteria Wolbachia or insect‐specific viruses (ISVs). Understanding the ecological interactions between these “biocontrol endosymbionts” is thus a fundamental step. Wolbachia are transmitted vertically from mother to offspring and modify their hosts’ phenotypes, including reproduction (e.g., cytoplasmic incompatibility) and survival (e.g., viral interference). In nature, Culex pipiens (sensu lato) mosquitoes are always found infected with genetically diverse Wolbachia called wPip that belong to five phylogenetic groups. In recent years, ISVs have also been discovered in these mosquito species, although their interactions with Wolbachia in nature are unknown. Here, we studied the interactions between a widely prevalent ISV, the Culex pipiens densovirus (CpDV, Densovirinae), and Wolbachia in northern Tunisian C. pipiens populations. We showed an influence of different Wolbachia groups on CpDV prevalence and a general positive correlation between Wolbachia and CpDV loads. By investigating the putative relationship between CpDV diversification and wPip groups in the different sites, we detected a signal linked to wPip groups in CpDV phylogeny in sites where all larvae were infected by the same wPip group. However, no such signal was detected where the wPip groups coexisted, suggesting CpDV horizontal transfer between hosts. Overall, our results provide good evidence for an ecological influence of Wolbachia on an ISV, CpDV, in natural populations and highlight the importance of integrating Wolbachia in our understanding of ISV ecology in nature.

中文翻译：

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Wolbachia可调节自然种群中淡色库蚊（Culex pipiens）densoviruses的流行和病毒载量。

标准蚊子控制策略的不足要求采用生态安全的新方法，例如使用生物制剂，如内共生α-变形杆菌沃尔巴赫氏菌或昆虫特异性病毒（ISV）。因此，了解这些“生物控制内共生体”之间的生态相互作用是一个基本步骤。Wolbachia从母亲垂直传播到后代，并改变其宿主的表型，包括繁殖（例如，细胞质不相容性）和存活（例如，病毒干扰）。在自然界中，淡色库蚊（意义上拉托）蚊子被发现时都感染了遗传多样性沃尔巴克氏体称为w ^属于五个系统发育类别的点。近年来，尽管在自然界中它们与沃尔巴克菌的相互作用尚不清楚，但在这些蚊子中也发现了ISV 。在这里，我们研究了一种广泛流行的ISV之间的相互作用中，淡色库蚊浓核病毒（CpDV，浓核病毒亚科）和沃尔巴克氏体在突尼斯北部C.蚊群。我们显示了不同的沃尔巴克氏菌群体对CpDV患病率的影响以及Wolbachia和CpDV负荷之间的总体正相关性。通过研究CpDV多样化与不同地点的w点组之间的推定关系，我们检测到与w相关的信号在所有幼虫均被同一w Pip组感染的部位，CpDV系统发育中的Pip组。但是，在w pip组共存的位置未检测到此类信号，这表明主机之间的CpDV水平转移。总体而言，我们的结果为沃尔巴克菌对自然种群中ISV CpDV的生态影响提供了良好的证据，并突出了将沃尔巴克菌整合到我们对自然中的ISV生态的理解中的重要性。