(1st Place [Tie]) Wolbachia in lice of the genus Penenirmus (Psocodea: Phthiraptera: Ischnocera)

Insects with specialized, nutrient poor diets commonly have endosymbionts that help them to satisfy their nutritional needs when their diets do not. Parasitic lice (Phthiraptera) are a group of insects that often have specialized, nutritionally poor diets, with many species feeding on blood or feathers. Bacteria from the genus Wolbachia are present in a wide range of invertebrate taxa and are often characterized as reproductive parasites causing male-killing, cytoplasmic incompatibility, and feminization of genetic males. In some nematodes, the associated Wolbachia are thought to be reproductive symbionts. In the bedbug, Cimex lectularius, it is thought that its Wolbachia is a nutritional symbiont that provides B vitamins. It is clear Wolbachia can take on many roles inside their hosts. Here, we examine the presence and phylogeny of Wolbachia in the feather louse genus Penenirmus (Ischnocera). From whole genome Illumina sequencing reads of lice, we used two metagenomic analysis techniques to assemble associated bacterial genomes: MinYS (a reference-based genome assembler) and metaWRAP (a de novo assembler). Wolbachia was found in almost every sample we examined. There was evidence of multiple supergroups in the phylogenetic tree generated, and there was even evidence of dual infections in some samples. In addition, the Wolbachia phylogenetic tree does not match the louse phylogeny generated from the same samples, indicating either lack of maternal transmission or multiple independent acquisitions of these bacteria.