scholarly journals Male-killing and aposematic polymorphism in African butterflies: Is there a connection?

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Male Killing

Phenotype and transmission efficiency of artificial and natural male-killing Spiroplasma infections in Drosophila melanogaster

2012 ◽  
Vol 109 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate J. Hutchence ◽  
Rémi Padé ◽  
Heather L. Swift ◽  
Daimark Bennett ◽  
Gregory D.D. Hurst
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Transmission Efficiency ◽  
Male Killing

scholarly journals Identification of an Early Male-Killing Agent in the Oriental Tea Tortrix, Homona magnanima

2017 ◽  
Vol 108 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Tsugeno ◽  
Hironori Koyama ◽  
Takumi Takamatsu ◽  
Madoka Nakai ◽  
Yasuhisa Kunimi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Male Killing

A new male-killing parasitism:Spiroplasmabacteria infect the ladybird beetleAnisosticta novemdecimpunctata(Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Parasitology ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 132 (6) ◽  
pp. 757-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. TINSLEY ◽  
M. E. N. MAJERUS
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Egg Hatch ◽  
Hatch Rate ◽  
Male Killing ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Novel Host ◽  
Males And Females

Whilst most animals invest equally in males and females when they reproduce, a variety of vertically transmitted parasites has evolved the ability to distort the offspring sex ratios of their hosts. One such group of parasites are male-killing bacteria. Here we report the discovery of females of the ladybirdAnisosticta novemdecimpunctatathat produced highly female-biased offspring sex ratios associated with a 50% reduction in egg hatch rate. This trait was maternally transmitted with high efficiency, was antibiotic sensitive and was infectious following experimental haemolymph injection. We identified the cause as a male-killingSpiroplasmabacterium and phylogenetic analysis of rDNA revealed that it belongs to theSpiroplasma ixodetisclade in which other sex ratio distorters lie. We tested the potential for interspecific horizontal transfer by injection from an infectedA. novemdecimpunctataline into uninfected individuals of the two-spot ladybirdAdalia bipunctata. In this novel host, the bacterium was able to establish infection, transmit vertically and kill male embryos.

scholarly journals Wolbachia infection in Argentinean populations of Anastrepha fraterculus sp1: preliminary evidence of sex ratio distortion by one of two strains

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
CA Conte ◽  
DF Segura ◽  
FH Milla ◽  
AA Augustinos ◽  
JL Cladera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Wolbachia Infection ◽  
Larval Survival ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Wild Populations ◽  
Crossing Experiments ◽  
Anastrepha Fraterculus ◽  
Male Killing ◽  
Filarial Nematodes

ABSTRACTBackgroundWolbachia, one of the most abundant taxa of intracellular Alphaproteobacteria, is widespread among arthropods and filarial nematodes. The presence of these maternally inherited bacteria is associated with modifications of host fitness, including a variety of reproductive abnormalities, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, thelytokous parthenogenesis, host feminization and male-killing. Wolbachia has attracted much interest for its role in biological, ecological and evolutionary processes as well as for its potential use in novel and environmentally-friendly strategies for the control of insect pests and disease vectors including a major agricultural pest, the South American fruit fly, Anastrepha fraterculus Wiedemann (Diptera: Tephritidae).ResultsWe used wsp, 16S rRNA and a multilocus sequence typing (MLST) scheme including gatB, coxA, hcpA, fbpA, and ftsZ genes to detect and characterize the Wolbachia infection in laboratory strains and wild populations of A. fraterculus from Argentina. Wolbachia was found in all A. fraterculus individuals studied. Nucleotide sequences analysis of wsp gene allowed the identification of two Wolbachia nucleotide variants (named wAfraCast1_A and wAfraCast2_A). After the analysis of 76 individuals, a high prevalence of the wAfraCast2_A variant was found both, in laboratory (82%) and wild populations (95%). MLST analysis identified both Wolbachia genetic variants as sequence type 13. Phylogenetic analysis of concatenated MLST datasets clustered wAfraCast1/2_A in the supergroup A. Paired-crossing experiments among single infected laboratory strains showed a phenotype specifically associated to wAfraCast1_A that includes slight detrimental effects on larval survival, a female-biased sex ratio; suggesting the induction of male-killing phenomena, and a decreased proportion of females producing descendants that appears attributable to the lack of sperm in their spermathecae.ConclusionsWe detected and characterized at the molecular level two wsp gene sequence variants of Wolbachia both in laboratory and wild populations of A. fraterculus sp.1 from Argentina. Crossing experiments on singly-infected A. fraterculus strains showed evidence of a male killing-like mechanism potentially associated to the wAfraCast1_A - A. fraterculus interactions. Further mating experiments including antibiotic treatments and the analysis of early and late immature stages of descendants will contribute to our understanding of the phenotypes elicited by the Wolbachia variant wAfraCast1_A in A. fraterculus sp.1.

scholarly journals Rapid comeback of males: evolution of male-killer suppression in a green lacewing population

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1877) ◽  
pp. 20180369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masayuki Hayashi ◽  
Masashi Nomura ◽  
Daisuke Kageyama
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Female Offspring ◽  
Mitochondrial Haplotype ◽  
Green Lacewing ◽  
Haplotype Variation ◽  
Male Killing ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
High Prevalence ◽  
Laboratory Line ◽  
Male Killer

Evolutionary theory predicts that the spread of cytoplasmic sex ratio distorters leads to the evolution of host nuclear suppressors, although there are extremely few empirical observations of this phenomenon. Here, we demonstrate that a nuclear suppressor of a cytoplasmic male killer has spread rapidly in a population of the green lacewing Mallada desjardinsi . An M. desjardinsi population, which was strongly female-biased in 2011 because of a high prevalence of the male-killing Spiroplasma endosymbiont, had a sex ratio near parity in 2016, despite a consistent Spiroplasma prevalence. Most of the offspring derived from individuals collected in 2016 had 1 : 1 sex ratios in subsequent generations. Contrastingly, all-female or female-biased broods appeared frequently from crossings of these female offspring with males derived from a laboratory line founded by individuals collected in 2011. These results suggest near-fixation of a nuclear suppressor against male killing in 2016 and reject the notion that a non-male-killing Spiroplasma variant has spread in the population. Consistently, no significant difference was detected in mitochondrial haplotype variation between 2011 and 2016. These findings, and earlier findings in the butterfly Hypolimnas bolina in Samoa, suggest that these quick events of male recovery occur more commonly than is generally appreciated.

scholarly journals Male-killing toxin in a bacterial symbiont of Drosophila

Nature ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 557 (7704) ◽  
pp. 252-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiyuki Harumoto ◽  
Bruno Lemaitre
Keyword(s):  
Bacterial Symbiont ◽  
Male Killing

scholarly journals Evolution of early male-killing in horizontally transmitted parasites

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1818) ◽  
pp. 20152068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Veronika Bernhauerová ◽  
Luděk Berec ◽  
Daniel Maxin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Vertical Transmission ◽  
Bacterial Strain ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
High Efficacy ◽  
Infected Male ◽  
Male Killing ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Male Killer

Early male-killing (MK) bacteria are vertically transmitted reproductive parasites which kill male offspring that inherit them. Whereas their incidence is well documented, characteristics allowing originally non-MK bacteria to gradually evolve MK ability remain unclear. We show that horizontal transmission is a mechanism enabling vertically transmitted bacteria to evolve fully efficient MK under a wide range of host and parasite characteristics, especially when the efficacy of vertical transmission is high. We also show that an almost 100% vertically transmitted and 100% effective male-killer may evolve from a purely horizontally transmitted non-MK ancestor, and that a 100% efficient male-killer can form a stable coexistence only with a non-MK bacterial strain. Our findings are in line with the empirical evidence on current MK bacteria, explain their high efficacy in killing infected male embryos and their variability within and across insect taxa, and suggest that they may have evolved independently in phylogenetically distinct species.

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