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Table 1 Main characteristics of cereal weevils and tsetse flies and their respective symbionts

From: What can a weevil teach a fly, and reciprocally? Interaction of host immune systems with endosymbionts in Glossina and Sitophilus

Insect host

Cereal weevil

Tsetse fly

Species

Sitophilus spp.

Glossinidia spp.

Applied interest

agronomical pest

Human and livestock disease vector

Taxonomy

Coleoptera

Diptera

Reproduction

oviparity

adenotrophic viviparity

Location of larval development

cereal grain

maternal uterus

Diet

cereal grains

vertebrate blood

Symbionts

Sodalis pierantonius, Wolbachia

Wigglesworthia glossinida, Wolbachia, Sodalis glossinidus, gut microbiota, Spiroplasma, Trypanosoma

Nutritional endosymbiosis requirement

obligatory in the field

obligatory

Endosymbionts

Sodalis pierantonius

Wigglesworthia glossinida

Sodalis glossinidus

Phylogeny

Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae

Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae

Gammaproteobacteria, Enterobacteriaceae

Association age

0.03 Myr

50–80 Myr

recent

Metabolic contribution

amino acids - especially Tyr and Phe, vitamins

vitamins

?

Biological Impact

thinner cuticle, decreased fertility, increased developmental rate, loss of flight ability

total loss of fertility

increased longevity, decreased resistance to trypanosomes

Requirement for the host

obligatory in the field

obligatory

facultative

Cultivable

no

no

yes

Genetically manipulable

no

no

yes

Tissue localization

Gut- and ovaries- associated bacteriomes, oocytes

bacteriome and female milk gland

broad tropism except bacteriome

Cellular localization

intracellular (stochastic exception at pupal stage)

mainly intracellular; extracellular in female milk gland

intracellular and extracellular

Transmission

Ovaries (intracellularly)

milk gland (extracellularly)

milk gland and male spermatophore (extracellularly)

Genome size

4.5 Mb

700 KB

4.2 Mb

PG/LPS synthesis pathway

conserved

conserved

conserved (with modification)

Secretion and infection system conservation

type III secretion system

flagellum

type III secretion system