Evidence against the Presence ofWolbachiain a Population of the Crayfish SpeciesProcambarus clarkii

Wolbachiais a genus of intracellular alpha-Proteobacteria that is maternally inherited and is capable of inducing a variety of reproductive alterations in host species. The host range ofWolbachiais not determined completely but is known to contain a number of arthropod taxa, including crustaceans.Wolbachiahas not been reported in crayfish, but sampling has been limited to date. We examine a species of crayfish,Procambarus clarkii, forWolbachiainfection using a suite ofWolbachia-specific primers in PCR assays. All specimens yielded negative results forWolbachiainfection and mathematical analysis of sample size shows a near 100% probability of detection for populations with greater than 0.1% infection rate.