Effects of Wolbachia infection on fitness-related traits in Drosophila melanogaster

Serga, Svitlana; Maistrenko, Oleksandr M.; Matiytsiv, N. P.; Vaiserman, Alexander; Kozeretska, I. A.

doi:10.1007/s13199-020-00743-3

Cited by 25 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…For example, our work and others' suggests that identical w MelCS variants have different effects on D. melanogaster temperature preference depending on the host background [20,58,59]. Host genomes also modify Wolbachia titre [87], Wolbachia maternal transmission [88], components of host fitness [89–92] and the strength of cytoplasmic incompatibility [93–95].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

2021

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Heritable symbionts have diverse effects on the physiology, reproduction and fitness of their hosts. Maternally transmitted Wolbachia are one of the most common endosymbionts in nature, infecting about half of all insect species. We test the hypothesis that Wolbachia alter host behaviour by assessing the effects of 14 different Wolbachia strains on the locomotor activity of nine Drosophila host species. We find that Wolbachia alter the activity of six different host genotypes, including all hosts in our assay infected with w Ri-like Wolbachia strains ( w Ri, w Suz and w Aur), which have rapidly spread among Drosophila species in about the last 14 000 years. While Wolbachia effects on host activity were common, the direction of these effects varied unpredictably and sometimes depended on host sex. We hypothesize that the prominent effects of w Ri-like Wolbachia may be explained by patterns of Wolbachia titre and localization within host somatic tissues, particularly in the central nervous system. Our findings support the view that Wolbachia have wide-ranging effects on host behaviour. The fitness consequences of these behavioural modifications are important for understanding the evolution of host–symbiont interactions, including how Wolbachia spread within host populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

2021

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“…Recent studies indicate that individuals infected with wMelCS prefer cooler temperatures than uninfected individuals (Truitt et al, 2019;Arnold et al, 2019; but see Hague et al, 2020), suggesting that Wolbachia-infected hosts may avoid higher temperatures to alleviate fitness costs resulting from bacterial infections. A new study of natural D. melanogaster populations from Ukraine infected with wMel and wMelCS found that the effect of bacteria on fitness components and stress-related phenotypes is highly condition-dependent and influenced by the host genotype (Serga et al, 2021). However, most work focusing on phenotypic effects of Wolbachia infections used highly inbred, long-term Drosophila lab strains, which were often generated by de novo introgression via backcrossing (Chrostek et al, 2013;Teixeira et al, 2008) or transinfection with non-native Wolbachia variants (Martinez et al, 2014).…”

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confidence: 99%

Complex effects of environment and Wolbachia infections on the life history of Drosophila melanogaster hosts

Blanckenhorn

Miller

Kapun

2022

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Wolbachia bacteria are common endosymbionts of many arthropods found in gonads and various somatic tissues. They manipulate host reproduction to enhance their transmission and confer complex effects on fitness‐related traits. Some of these effects can serve to increase the survival and transmission efficiency of Wolbachia in the host population. The Wolbachia–Drosophila melanogaster system represents a powerful model to study the evolutionary dynamics of host–microbe interactions and infections. Over the past decades, there has been a replacement of the ancestral wMelCS Wolbachia variant by the more recent wMel variant in worldwide D. melanogaster populations, but the reasons remain unknown. To investigate how environmental change and genetic variation of the symbiont affect host developmental and adult life‐history traits, we compared effects of both Wolbachia variants and uninfected controls in wild‐caught D. melanogaster strains at three developmental temperatures. While Wolbachia did not influence any developmental life‐history traits, we found that both lifespan and fecundity of host females were increased without apparent fitness trade‐offs. Interestingly, wMelCS‐infected flies were more fecund than uninfected and wMel‐infected flies. By contrast, males infected with wMel died sooner, indicating sex‐specific effects of infection that are specific to the Wolbachia variant. Our study uncovered complex temperature‐specific effects of Wolbachia infections, which suggests that symbiont–host interactions in nature are strongly dependent on the genotypes of both partners and the thermal environment.

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“…For example, our work and others’ suggests that identical w MelCS variants have different effects on D. melanogaster temperature preference depending on the host background [20,57,58]. Host genomes also modify Wolbachia titer [82], Wolbachia maternal transmission [83], components of host fitness [84–87], and the strength of cytoplasmic incompatibility [88–90].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

Hague

Woods

Cooper

2021

Preprint

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Heritable symbionts have diverse effects on the physiology, reproduction, and fitness of their hosts. Maternally transmitted Wolbachia are one of the most common endosymbionts in nature, infecting about half of all insect species. We test the hypothesis that Wolbachia alter host behavior by assessing the effects of 14 different Wolbachia strains on the locomotor activity of nine Drosophila host species. We find that Wolbachia alter the activity of six different host genotypes, including all hosts in our assay infected with wRi-like Wolbachia strains (wRi, wSuz, wAur), which have rapidly spread among Drosophila species in only the last 13,000 years. While Wolbachia effects on host activity were common, the direction of these effects varied unpredictability and sometimes depended on host sex. We hypothesize that the prominent effects of wRi-like Wolbachia may be explained by patterns of Wolbachia titer and localization within host somatic tissues, particularly in the central nervous system. Our findings support the view that Wolbachia have wide-ranging effects on host behavior. The fitness consequences of these behavioral modifications are important for understanding the evolution of host-symbiont interactions, including how Wolbachia spread within host populations.

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Effects of Wolbachia infection on fitness-related traits in Drosophila melanogaster

Cited by 25 publications

References 62 publications

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

Complex effects of environment and Wolbachia infections on the life history of Drosophila melanogaster hosts

Pervasive effects ofWolbachiaon host activity

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