Dataset - Cardinium disrupts Wolbachia–host dynamics in the domestic mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae – evidence from manipulative experiments

We investigated tripartite integrations between two intracellular bacterial symbionts, Cardinium and Wolbachia, within a stored product mite Tyrophagus putrescentiae. Populations of this mite are typically single-infected, but co-infection can occur in experiments, leading to changes in fitness of the host. In previous experiments, Cardinium overcame Wolbachia in double infected cultures. For this work, we assembled the genomes of Cardinium and Wolbachia and analyzed their gene expression in single- and double-infected mite cultures. While the molecular mechanisms involved in the interactions of the two bacterial endosymbionts and their mite host are not yet well understood, here we use correlative data from gene expression experiments and single- and double-infected mite cultures to find possible clues. Wolbachia has more interaction with its mite host than Cardinium in single infected cultures, particularly with the mite's immune and regulatory pathways: Krebs cycle, beta-oxidation, and fatty acid biosynthesis. In double infected cultures, Wolbachia regulated less mite than Cardinium. Cardinium gene expression profile changed and increased its interactions with the host, while Wolbachia gene expression profile did not change. In double infected cultures Wolbachia gene lost interactions to mite gene expression based on correlations. Namely, Wolbachia loses control to host MAPK, endocytosis, and calcium signaling pathways in double infected samples. Our experiments show that double-infection disrupts gene expression interaction between the two symbionts and their host in different ways. Wolbachia was more influenced by Cardinium gene expression than vice versa. Cardinium inhibits the growth of Wolbachia by disrupting its interaction with the host and Wolbachia loses its influence on mite immune and regulatory pathways. 

The datasets contain reads of different samples of Tyrophagus putrescentiae transcriptome obtained from metatranscriptome samples. The data on the correlation between Cardinium and Wolbachia in these samples and the correlation of mites predicted KEGG gene expression and bacterial symbiont gene expression. DNA and RNA sequences are deposited in GenBank (PRJNA493156, PRJNA690683, PRJNA656450, PRJNA990474, and PRJNA706095). Genomes are deposited in GenBank (JAUEML01, JAUEMM01, and JBBPFL01).