A way of reproductive manipulation and biology of Wolbachia pipientis

Abstract

The endo-symbiotic relationship between microorganism and eukaryotes are very common and has been broadly investigated from all insect species. The genus Wolbachia are obligatory intracellular bacteria that induce evolutionary alterations and have been frequently reported in egg cytoplasm's of various invertebrates including insects, spiders, mites, scorpions, crustaceans and nematodes, which exert a profound impact on host biology and behavior through a number of phenotypic alternations. Due to its ubiquitous phenotypic behavior, Wolbachia becomes a novel and promising natural micro-biocontrol agent to induce cytoplasmic incompatibility, killing of male embryos, parthenogenesis, and feminization. Autonomous transgenic capability, survival on several host species and the ability to modify the host reproductive systems makes it the most prominent and focusing scientific genomic research from last few decades. The aim of this review is to summarize the significance and recent discoveries of Wolbachia related to various arthropods which lead positive directions to be exploited in future for integrated pest management (IPM) strategies. Further, this review also discussed the biology, phylogeny, distributions, classifications and types of Wolbachia infections on insect orders and coleopterans in particular.