AUTHOR=Tseng Shu-Ping , Wetterer James K. , Suarez Andrew V. , Lee Chow-Yang , Yoshimura Tsuyoshi , Shoemaker DeWayne , Yang Chin-Cheng Scotty 

TITLE=Genetic Diversity and Wolbachia Infection Patterns in a Globally Distributed Invasive Ant

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Genetics

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/genetics/articles/10.3389/fgene.2019.00838

DOI=10.3389/fgene.2019.00838

ISSN=1664-8021

ABSTRACT=<p>Understanding the phylogeographic history of an invasive species may facilitate reconstructing the history and routes of its invasion. The longhorn crazy ant, <italic>Paratrechina longicornis</italic>, is a ubiquitous agricultural and household pest throughout much of the tropics and subtropics, but little is known about the history of its spread. Here, we examine worldwide genetic variation in <italic>P. longicornis</italic> and its associated <italic>Wolbachia</italic> bacterial symbionts. Analyses of mtDNA sequences of 248 <italic>P. longicornis</italic> workers (one per colony) from 13 geographic regions reveal two highly diverged mtDNA clades that co-occur in most of the geographic regions. These two mtDNA clades are associated with different <italic>Wolbachia</italic> infection patterns, but are not congruent with patterns of nDNA (microsatellite) variation. Multilocus sequence typing reveals two distinct <italic>Wolbachia</italic> strains in <italic>P. longicornis</italic>, namely, <italic>w</italic>LonA and <italic>w</italic>LonF. The evolutionary histories of these two strains differ; <italic>w</italic>LonA appears to be primarily transmitted maternally, and patterns of mtDNA and nDNA variation and <italic>w</italic>LonA infection status are consistent with a relatively recent <italic>Wolbachia</italic>-induced selective sweep. In contrast, the observed patterns of mtDNA variation and <italic>w</italic>LonF infections suggest frequent horizontal transfer and losses of <italic>w</italic>LonF infections. The lack of nDNA structure among sampled geographic regions coupled with the finding that numerous mtDNA haplotypes are shared among regions implies that inadvertent long-distance movement through human commerce is common in <italic>P. longicornis</italic> and has shaped the genetic structure of this invasive ant worldwide.</p>