Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria that infect a wide range of invertebrates and have evolved various strategies to alter host reproduction for their own survival and dissemination. In small brown planthopper Laodelphax striatellus, Wolbachia-infected females lay more eggs than uninfected females. Our previous study has shown that Wolbachia are abundant in ovarian cells of L. striatellus and change the number of apoptotic nurse cells in a caspase-dependent manner to provide nutrition for oogenesis. The cellular and molecular bases of the Wolbachia-mediated alterations in L. striatellus oogenesis remain largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether germ cell mitosis, which has been implicated in determination of egg production rates, influences the interaction between fecundity and Wolbachia in L. striatellus. We used an anti-phospho-histone 3 (pH3) antibody to label and visualize mitotic cells. Microscopic observations indicated that the Wolbachia strain wStri increased the number of ovarioles that contained mitotic germ cells. The increased fecundity of Wolbachia-infected females was a result of mitosis of germ cells; the frequency of germ cell mitosis was much higher in infected females than in uninfected females. In addition, mitosis inhibition by Cdc20, CDK1, and CycB messenger RNA interference in Wolbachia-infected L. striatellus markedly decreased egg numbers. Live Wolbachia recolonization enhanced the egg production of uninfected L. striatellus by directly affecting mitosis regulators. Together, these data suggest that wStri might increase germ cell mitosis to enhance the fecundity of L. striatellus in a mitosis-regulating manner. Our findings establish a link between Wolbachia-induced mitosis and Wolbachia-mediated egg production effects.

沃尔巴氏菌是一种感染多种无脊椎动物的细胞内细菌，并且已经进化出各种策略来改变宿主繁殖，以维持自身的生存和传播。在小型褐飞虱Laodelphax striatellus中，感染了Wolbachia的雌性产卵的数量要多于未感染的雌性。我们以前的研究表明，Wolbachia在条状线虫的卵巢细胞中丰富，并以半胱天冬酶依赖性方式改变凋亡性护士细胞的数量，从而为卵子发生提供营养。Wolbachia介导的纹状体梭状芽胞杆菌改变的细胞和分子基础卵子生成仍然很大程度上未知。在这里，我们调查生殖细胞有丝分裂，这在确定的产蛋率牵连，是否会影响生育能力之间的相互作用沃尔巴克氏体的L. 灰飞虱。我们使用了抗磷酸组蛋白3（pH3）抗体标记和可视化有丝分裂细胞。显微观察表明，Wolbachia w Stri菌株增加了含有有丝分裂生殖细胞的卵巢的数量。Wolbachia的繁殖力增强感染的女性是生殖细胞有丝分裂的结果；受感染的女性生殖细胞有丝分裂的频率要比未感染的女性高得多。此外，在Wolbachia感染的L. striatellus中，Cdc20，CDK1和CycB Messenger RNA干扰对有丝分裂的抑制显着降低了卵数。直播沃尔巴克氏体的再移植提高了产蛋未感染的灰飞虱通过直接影响有丝分裂调节。总之，这些数据表明w Stri可能以有丝分裂调控的方式增加生殖细胞的有丝分裂，从而增强了纹状体乳杆菌的繁殖力。我们的发现建立了沃尔巴克氏菌引起的有丝分裂与沃尔巴克氏菌介导的产卵效应。