Molecular detection of the endosymbiont Wolbachia in different Asian populations of the brown planthopper

The brown planthopper( BPH),Nilaparvata lugens Stl,is one of the most important rice pests,and Wolbachia is a secondary endosymbiont bacteria found in it.To better understand Wolbachia infection in BPH populations around the world,Wolbachia was collected and analyzed from 22 BPH populations in China,India and Southeast Asian Countries.Real-time quantitative PCR results showed that all populations,except that from Hangzhou,were infected with Wolbachia to varying degrees.Sequence alignment and evolutionary analysis of Wolbachia WSPs showed that the Wolbachia from all detected BPH populations belonged to the Wolbachia B group,and could be further divided into two subgroups,Ori and Con.Wolbachia from most of the sampled BPH populations belonged to Ori; only those from Qingyuan and Tongxiang belonged to Con.Interestingly,both Ori and Con were detected in the BPH population from Iloilo,in the Philippines.This work may provide useful data for further research into the symbiosis between BPH and its endosymbionts,BPH virulence change,migration routes of BPH and on the application of Wolbachia to BPH control.