Relative to control cells, the RNAi treatment with RpL40 resulted in a 3.4-fold increase in Wolbachia, doxycycline decreased Wolbachia levels 6.3-fold, whereas LacZ and GFP RNAi had no significant effect confirming that our controls allowed us to manipulate Wolbachia levels in the JW18 cell line and that this cell line with its relative low infection rate (Fig 1C) provided a sensitive tool for detecting dynamic changes in Wolbachia levels through an RNAi screening approach. This evidence concerns the gene UBA52 and infection.