The protocol was originally developed by Kramer et al. (2003) and was subsequently modified by Gilbert et al. (2005). Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections were ‘demasked’ by immersion in 0.1 M sodium citrate buffer, pH 6.0, and heated at minimum power in a microwave oven (Hinari, LifeStyle,

800W) for two 1-min cycles with a change of buffer. Blocking of endogenous peroxidase and detection of bound antibody was performed using the Universal LSAB2 Horseradish Peroxidase Kit (DakoCytomation, Ely, UK) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This system uses a biotinylated secondary antibody that forms a complex with peroxidase-conjugated streptavidin, which then reacts with a chromogen [3,3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB)], leading to a brown coloured precipitate. To prevent non-specific binding of antibodies, slides were also blocked for 30 min with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 5% sucrose in wash buffer [10 mM GW572016 Tris-hydrochloride, pH 8.5; 150 mM sodium chloride, 0.1% (v/v) ‘Tween’-20]. Slides were subsequently incubated for

30 min with anti-WSP primary antibody at a dilution of 1/500 in blocking solution. Adjacent sections cut from the same block were incubated in parallel with normal rabbit serum (Sigma) at the same dilution (negative control). Sections cut from an O. ochengi nodule, a species already known to contain and stain for WSP ( Gilbert et al., 2005), were developed using the same protocol (positive control). Sections were counter-stained with Harris haematoxylin (HD Supplies) and mounted using DPX. Slides were photographed on a Selleckchem Navitoclax Microphot-FX digital microscope (Nikon, Tokyo, Japan). Small sections of dissected aorta were left in PBS

solution for 6 h at ambient temperature. This promoted the adult worms to emerge sufficiently from their tunnels to aid extraction from the aorta wall by applying gentle traction on the worm with forceps. The adult worms were immediately frozen at −80 °C and subsequently transported to the UK on dry ice. The worms were thawed and finely chopped with a scalpel blade, and genomic DNA was extracted from the macerate using DNAzol® reagent (Invitrogen, Paisley, UK) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. In order to visualise the DNA pellets and so minimise losses during washing, 2 μl of Pellet Paint® co-precipitant (Novagen®, VWR the International) was added to the homogenate prior to ethanol precipitation. DNA pellets were dissolved in 30 μl of 8 mM sodium hydroxide and stored at 4 °C. Published oligonucleotide sequences with broad specificity for the 16S rRNA (Casiraghi et al., 2001) and ftsZ ( Werren et al., 1995) genes of Wolbachia were used for custom primer synthesis (Sigma-Genosys, Haverhill, UK). For both assays, the reaction composition was 1 U Thermo-Start™ Taq DNA polymerase, 200 μM each dNTP and 1.5 mM magnesium chloride in 1× High Performance Buffer (all supplied by Abgene, Epsom, UK), with 1 μM each primer and 1 μl DNA template in a final volume of 20 μl.