Abstract
Spirobacillus cienkowskii is a bacterial pathogen of zooplankton, first described in the 19th century and recently placed in a new family of bacteria, the Silvanigrellaceae. Spirobacillus causes large epidemics in lake zooplankton populations and increases the probability that zooplankton will be eaten by predators. However, little is known about how Spirobacillus transmits among hosts, to what extent it reduces host survival and reproduction (i.e., how virulent it is), and what role virulence plays in Spirobacillus' life cycle. Here, we experimentally quantified Spirobacillus' virulence and showed that Spirobacillus must kill its host to transmit horizontally. We also found evidence that Spirobacillus may transmit vertically via Daphnia's seed-like egg sacks. Our work will help scientists to (i) understand Spirobacillus epidemics, (ii) use Spirobacillus as a model pathogen for the study of host-parasite interactions, and (iii) better understand the unusual group of bacteria to which Spirobacillus belongs.
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