Beschreibung:
<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>bacteria are common intracellular symbionts of arthropods and have been extensively studied in<jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>. Most research focuses on two Old Word hosts,<jats:italic>Drosophila melanogaster</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>Drosophila simulans</jats:italic>, and does not take into account that some of the<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>associations in these species may have evolved only after their fast global expansion and after the exposure to<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>of previously isolated habitats. Here we looked at<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>of Neotropical<jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>species. Seventy-one lines of 16 Neotropical<jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>species sampled in different regions and at different time points were analyzed.<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>is absent in lines of<jats:italic>Drosophila willistoni</jats:italic>collected before the 1970s, but more recent samples are infected with a strain designated<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Wil.<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>is absent in all other species of the willistoni group. Polymorphic<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Wil-related strains were detected in some saltans group species, with<jats:italic>D. septentriosaltans</jats:italic>being coinfected with at least four variants. Based on<jats:italic>wsp</jats:italic>and<jats:italic>ftsZ</jats:italic>sequence data,<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Wil of<jats:italic>D. willistoni</jats:italic>is identical to<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Au, a strain isolated from<jats:italic>D. simulans</jats:italic>, but can be discriminated when using a polymorphic minisatellite marker. In contrast to<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Au, which infects both germ line and somatic tissues of<jats:italic>D. simulans</jats:italic>,<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Wil is found exclusively in the primordial germ line cells of<jats:italic>D. willistoni</jats:italic>embryos. We report on a pool of closely related<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>strains in Neotropical<jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>species as a potential source for the<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Au strain in<jats:italic>D. simulans</jats:italic>. Possible evolutionary scenarios reconstructing the infection history of<jats:italic>w</jats:italic>Au-like<jats:italic>Wolbachia</jats:italic>in Neotropical<jats:italic>Drosophila</jats:italic>species and the Old World species<jats:italic>D. simulans</jats:italic>are discussed.</jats:p>