Data from: Host tissues as microhabitats for Wolbachia and quantitative insights into the bacterial community in terrestrial isopods

Animal–bacterial symbioses are highly dynamic in terms of multipartite interactions, both between the host and its symbionts as well as between the different bacteria constituting the symbiotic community. These interactions will be reflected by the titres of the individual bacterial taxa, for example via host regulation of bacterial loads or competition for resources between symbionts. Moreover, different host tissues represent heterogeneous microhabitats for bacteria, meaning that host-associated bacteria might establish tissue-specific bacterial communities. Wolbachia are widespread endosymbiotic bacteria, infecting a large number of arthropods and filarial nematodes. However, relatively little is known regarding direct interactions between Wolbachia and other bacteria. This study represents the first quantitative investigation of tissue-specific Wolbachia–microbiota interactions in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare. To this end, we obtained a more complete picture of the Wolbachia distribution patterns across all major host tissues, integrating all three feminizing Wolbachia strains (wVulM, wVulC, wVulP) identified to date in this host. Interestingly, the different Wolbachia strains exhibited strain-specific tissue distribution patterns, with wVulM reaching lower titres in most tissues. These patterns were consistent across different host genetic backgrounds and might reflect different co-evolutionary histories between the Wolbachia strains and A. vulgare. Moreover, Wolbachia-infected females carried higher total bacterial loads in several, but not all, tissues, irrespective of the Wolbachia strain. Taken together, this quantitative approach indicates that Wolbachia is part of a potentially more diverse bacterial community, as exemplified by the presence of highly abundant bacterial taxa in the midgut caeca of several A. vulgare populations.动物-细菌共生体系在多组分相互作用维度呈现高度动态性，此类相互作用既涵盖宿主与其共生菌之间的互作，也包含构成共生群落的不同细菌类群间的相互作用。这类互作可通过各细菌类群的菌量得以体现，例如宿主对细菌载量的调控，抑或是共生菌之间的资源竞争。此外，宿主的不同组织为细菌提供了异质性微生境，这意味着定殖于宿主的细菌或可形成组织特异性的细菌群落。沃尔巴克氏体（Wolbachia）是一类广泛分布的内共生细菌，可感染大量节肢动物与丝虫线虫。然而目前学界对沃尔巴克氏体与其他细菌之间的直接相互作用仍了解有限。本研究首次针对陆生等足类动物卷球鼠妇（Armadillidium vulgare）开展组织特异性沃尔巴克氏体-微生物组相互作用的定量调查。为此，我们整合了目前已在该宿主中鉴定出的全部3种致雌性化沃尔巴克氏体菌株（wVulM、wVulC、wVulP），以更全面地刻画沃尔巴克氏体在宿主所有主要组织中的分布模式。值得关注的是，不同沃尔巴克氏体菌株呈现出菌株特异性的组织分布特征，其中wVulM在多数组织中的菌量相对更低。这类分布模式在不同宿主遗传背景下均保持稳定，这或许反映了不同沃尔巴克氏体菌株与卷球鼠妇之间存在差异化的协同进化历程。此外，感染沃尔巴克氏体的雌虫在部分（而非全部）组织中携带更高的总细菌载量，且该现象与所感染的沃尔巴克氏体菌株无关。综上，本定量研究表明沃尔巴克氏体是一类潜在多样性更高的细菌群落的组成部分，这一点可从多个卷球鼠妇种群的中肠盲囊中存在高度丰富的细菌类群得到佐证。