PCR confirms multiple Wolbachia strain infection in Australian and international populations of the invasive stored-product psocid Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel

Diagnostic Wolbachia polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were used to investigate whether Liposcelis bostrychophila individuals from Australian populations were infected by Wolbachia. Wolbachia PCR diagnostic primers were used to amplify Wolbachia from single individuals, individuals subjected to multiple displacement amplification (MDA), and from groups of about 50 pooled individuals each representing an Australian or United Kingdom (UK) L. bostrychophila population. Wolbachia PCR diagnostic primers successfully amplified DNA from pooled L. bostrychophila DNA extractions but not from individual L. bostrychophila DNA extractions or from MDA-subjected samples from both the Australian and UK populations. Use of restriction fragment-length polymorphism (RFLP) techniques produced cleavage sites in Australian and UK L. bostrychophila populations that were diagnostic of Wolbachia strains A and B. This study provides the first evidence of multiple Wolbachia infection with strains A and B in Australian L. bostrychophila populations.