Microsatellite genotyping reveals diversity within populations of Sodalis glossinidius, the secondary symbiont of tsetse flies

The aim of this study was to develop a PCR-based microsatellite genotyping method for identifying genetic diversity in Sodalis glossinidius, a symbiont associated with tsetse fly infection by trypanosomes causing human and animal trypanosomiasis. Allelic polymorphism at three loci, investigated on 40 fly gut extracts, evidenced eight alleles and the existence of five genotypes. This novel approach was shown to be efficient and suitable for routine large-scale genotyping of S. glossinidius present in the biologically complex tsetse fly extracts; it could favor progress in the fields of diagnosis, epidemiology, population genetics, and fly/symbiont/trypanosome interactions.