Wolbachia -Mitochondrial DNA Associations in Transitional Populations of Rhagoletis cerasi

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 11; no. 10; p. 675
• Main Authors: Bakovic, Vid, Schebeck, Martin, Stauffer, Christian, Schuler, Hannes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05.10.2020; MDPI
• Subjects: Bacteria; bacterial spread; Communication; Crustaceans; Cytoplasmic incompatibility; Embryos; Females; field populations; Fruit flies; Fruits; Haplotypes; imperfect maternal transmission; Incompatibility; Infections; Insects; Males; Mitochondria; Mitochondrial DNA; Offspring; Pests; Polymorphism; Populations; Reproduction; Rhagoletis cerasi; Rhagoletis cingulata; Spreading; transition zones; Wolbachia; Hungary; Czech Republic; Germany; bacterial spread; imperfect maternal transmission; transition zones; field populations; Wolbachia; cytoplasmic incompatibility
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects11100675

The endosymbiont can manipulate arthropod host reproduction by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), which results in embryonic mortality when infected males mate with uninfected females. A CI-driven invasion of can result in a selective sweep of associated mitochondrial haplotype. The co-inheritance of and host mitochondrial DNA can therefore provide significant information on the dynamics of an ongoing invasion. Therefore, transition zones (i.e., regions where a strain is currently spreading from infected to uninfected populations) represent an ideal area to investigate the relationship between and host mitochondrial haplotype. Here, we studied -mitochondrial haplotype associations in the European cherry fruit fly, , in two transition zones in the Czech Republic and Hungary, where the CI-inducing strain Cer2 is currently spreading. The Cer2-infection status of 881 individuals was compared with the two known mitochondrial haplotypes, HT1 and HT2. In accordance with previous studies, Cer2-uninfected individuals were associated with HT1, and Cer2-infected individuals were mainly associated with HT2. We found misassociations only within the transition zones, where HT2 flies were Cer2-uninfected, suggesting the occurrence of imperfect maternal transmission. We did not find any HT1 flies that were Cer2-infected, suggesting that was not acquired horizontally. Our study provides new insights into the dynamics of the early phase of a invasion.