The XVIIIth (New) International Congress of Zoology

Le XVIIIème (Nouveau) Congrès International de Zoologie

The weevil symbiocosm is composed with as much as four different genomes :nuclear, mitochondrial, principal endosymbionts and Wolbachia. The principal endosymbionts, which belong to the proteobacteria g-subgroup, are present constantly in all weevils studied and improve significantly their physiology and their behavior by interacting with the mitochondria and the nucleus of the insect. Wolbachia, the a-proteopbacteria that are widespread in arthropods, do not infect all weevil strains, but are disseminated throughout the body cells, particularly in high density in the germ cells where they cause nucleo-cytoplasmic incompatibility, changing therefore the weevil reproduction. The coexistence of two distinct types of intracellular bacteria at different levels of symbiont integration in insect, illustrates the complexity of animal tissue and indicates the predominant roles of prokaryotes on eukaryote cell biology.