Abstract
BackgroundWolbachia pipientis is a widespread, obligatory intracellular and maternally inherited bacterium, that induces a wide range of reproductive alterations to its hosts. Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) is causing embryonic lethality, the most common of them. Despite that Wolbachia-borne sterility has been proposed as an environmental friendly pest control method (Incompatible Insect Technique, IIT) since 1970s, the fact that Wolbachia modifies important fitness components of its hosts sets severe barriers to IIT implementation. Mass rearing of Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (medfly), is highly optimized given that this pest is a model species regarding the implementation of another sterility based pest control method, the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). We used the medfly-Wolbachia symbiotic association, as a model system, to study the effect of two different Wolbachia strains, on the life history traits of 2 C. capitata lines with different genomic background.ResultsWolbachia effects are regulated by both C. capitata genetic background and the Wolbachia strain. Wolbachia infection reduces fertility rates in both C. capitata genetic backgrounds and shortens the pre-pupa developmental duration in the GSS strain. On the other hand, regardless of the strain of Wolbachia (wCer2, wCer4) infection does not affect either the sex ratio or the longevity of adults. wCer4 infection imposed a reduction in females’ fecundity but wCer2 did not. Male mating competitiveness, adults flight ability and longevity under water and food deprivation were affected by both the genetic background of medfly and the strain of Wolbachia (genotype by genotype interaction).ConclusionWolbachia infection could alter important life history traits of mass-reared C. capitata lines and therefore the response of each genotype on the Wolbachia infection should be considered toward ensuring the productivity of the Wolbachia-infected insects under mass-rearing conditions.
Highlights
Wolbachia pipientis, an obligatory intracellular maternally transmitted alpha proteobacterium, was first identified in Culex pipiens in 1936 [1]
The wsp based PCR screening that discriminates among the different wCer Wolbachia strains was performed on the same flies of the three Wolbachia-infected medfly lines and 56S2 plus 88.6 produced only the expected wCer2-specific wsp amplicon (40 out of the 40 flies), while all flies from the S10.3 line produced only the wCer4-specific wsp amplicon
This is because such an experimental approach minimizes the possibility to attribute effects caused by other factors to Wolbachia infection [62]
Summary
An obligatory intracellular maternally transmitted alpha proteobacterium, was first identified in Culex pipiens in 1936 [1]. Recent studies have estimated that more than 40% of the terrestrial arthropod species have evolved symbiotic relationships with Wolbachia [2] “Dictation” of reproduction (sterility induction in this case) is not a stand-alone phenomenon and the presence of Wolbachia is often accompanied with a broad spectrum of responses in host organisms which have not been fully elucidated. Such effects may favor or limit the potential for IIT implementation in case of positive and negative effects respectively. We used the medfly-Wolbachia symbiotic association, as a model system, to study the effect of two different Wolbachia strains, on the life history traits of 2 C. capitata lines with different genomic background
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