Molecular evidence for the endosymbiont Wolbachia in a non-filaroid nematode, Angiostrongylus cantonensis

Wolbachia harbored by most filarial parasites, is critical to both embryogenesis and microfilarial development, and may lead to inflammation and pathogenesis in infected hosts. Based on alignment of the sequences from the wsp, ftsZ, and 16S rRNA genes, Wolbachia was demonstrated to exist in Angiostrongylus cantonensis, a non-filaroid nematode. Although the wsp gene may not be the best candidate for evolutionary analysis of Wolbachia, this gene has been sequenced from a broader coverage of the host species, making it feasible to be used for phylogenetic analysis in this study. The results from both Neighbor-joining and Maximum parsimony methods showed that this novel Wolbachia does not belong to any of the known groups (C or D) of nematode-derived Wolbachia. In addition, the wsp gene sequence of this newly identified endosymbiont revealed a high degree of identity (98%) with that from Diaea circumlita c2, tentatively classified into the putative group G. This suggests that Wolbachia from A. cantonensis could represent a deeply branched lineage in Wolbachia evolution or the occurrence of horizontal transfer between infected hosts. In conclusion, the findings provide some insights into our understanding of the evolution of Wolbachia, particularly the isolate from A. cantonensis.