Wolbachia, a bacterial endosymbiont, is critical for blood digestion in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius

The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, is an obligately hematophagous ectoparasite through all life stages. To survive on a diet that consists only of blood, bed bugs have evolved a nutritional mutualism with the bacterial endosymbiont, Wolbachia. The primary driver of the Wolbachia-bed bug mutualism is the supplementation of B-vitamins, which are very limited in vertebrate blood. The absence of Wolbachia leads to significant physiological defects, including reduced egg production, low egg hatch rate, and slow development. We have generated and maintained a Wolbachia-free strain of bed bugs to associate fitness parameters with the absence of specific B-vitamins from the bed bug diet. Using this system, we have found evidence that Wolbachia-supplemented B-vitamins play a pivotal role in blood digestion in C. lectularius. This research can open the door for studying this phenomenon in other blood feeding insects and provide insight on potentially targeting Wolbachia for bed bug control.