Molecular evidence of Wolbachia endosymbiosis in Mansonella perstans in Gabon, Central Africa.

Abstract	The discovery of obligatory intracellular bacteria of the genus Wolbachia in filariae infecting humans led to the use of antibiotics as a potent treatment option. Mansonella perstans is the cause of the second most prevalent filariasis in Gabon, but so far reports on the presence of Wolbachia in this nematode have been inconsistent. We report on the presence of Wolbachia in M. perstans in patients from Gabon, which we identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with primer sets specific for 16S rDNA and ftsZ. Sequence analysis revealed a single consensus sequence, which could be phylogenetically assigned to Wolbachia of the supergroup F. Wolbachia could only be identified in 5 of 14 or 7 of 14 cases, depending on the investigated gene; detection of Wolbachia was associated with higher-level filaremia. Before generalizing the use of antibiotics for mansonellosis, further clarification of the obligatory nature of the endosymbiosis in this nematode is needed.
Authors	Christian Gehringer, Andrea Kreidenweiss, Arnaud Flamen, Justin S Antony, Martin P Grobusch, Sabine Bélard
Journal	The Journal of infectious diseases (J Infect Dis) Vol. 210 Issue 10 Pg. 1633-8 (Nov 15 2014) ISSN: 1537-6613 [Electronic] United States
PMID	24903665 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
Copyright	© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected].
Chemical References	Bacterial Proteins Cytoskeletal Proteins FtsZ protein, Bacteria RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
Topics	Adult Animals Bacterial Proteins (genetics) Child Child, Preschool Cytoskeletal Proteins (genetics) Female Gabon Humans Male Mansonella (microbiology) Molecular Sequence Data Polymerase Chain Reaction RNA, Ribosomal, 16S (genetics) Sequence Analysis, DNA Symbiosis Wolbachia (genetics, isolation & purification, physiology)

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