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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2004, p. 4096-4102, Vol. 70, No. 7
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.7.4096-4102.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Replication of the Endosymbiotic Bacterium Blochmannia floridanus Is Correlated with the Developmental and Reproductive Stages of Its Ant Host

Florian Wolschin,1,{dagger} Bert Hölldobler,2 Roy Gross,1 and Evelyn Zientz1*

Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie,1 Lehrstuhl für Verhaltensphysiologie und Soziobiologie, Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany2

Received 6 November 2003/ Accepted 19 March 2004

The dynamics of replication of the intracellular endosymbiotic bacterium Blochmannia floridanus was determined during the larval development of its host ant Camponotus floridanus by real-time quantitative PCR. The bacteria were found to proliferate during pupation and immediately after the eclosion of the imagines (adult ants). In older workers the number of bacteria present in the midgut bacteriocytes decreased significantly. In contrast, the bacterial population in the ovaries was dependent on the reproductive state of the animal. An age-dependent degeneration of the midgut bacteriocytes was also investigated by microscopic techniques in males and female castes of the closely related ant species C. herculeanus and C. sericeiventris, respectively, with similar results and supports the concept of age-dependent degeneration of the midgut bacteriocytes in all castes.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Lehrstuhl für Mikrobiologie, Biozentrum, Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany. Phone: (931) 888 4413. Fax: (931) 888 4402. E-mail: zientz{at}biozentrum.uni-wuerzburg.de.

{dagger} Present address: Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, D-14476 Golm, Germany.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 2004, p. 4096-4102, Vol. 70, No. 7
0099-2240/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/AEM.70.7.4096-4102.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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