Wolbachia infection lowers fertile sperm transfer in a moth

• Published in: Biology letters (2005) Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 187 - 189
• Main Authors: Lewis, Z., Champion de Crespigny, F. E., Sait, S. M., Tregenza, T., Wedell, N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 23.04.2011
• Subjects: Animal Behaviour; Animals; Drosophila; Endosymbiont; Ephestia kuehniella; Female; Fertility - physiology; Lepidoptera; Male; Moths - microbiology; Moths - physiology; Sperm Heteromorphism; Spermatogenesis; Spermatozoa - microbiology; Wolbachia; Wolbachia - isolation & purification; Wolbachia pipientis
• ISSN: 1744-9561; 1744-957X
• DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0605

The endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia pipientis manipulates host reproduction by rendering infected males reproductively incompatible with uninfected females (cytoplasmic incompatibility; CI). CI is believed to occur as a result of Wolbachia-induced modifications to sperm during maturation, which prevent infected sperm from initiating successful zygote development when fertilizing uninfected females' eggs. However, the mechanism by which CI occurs has been little studied outside the genus Drosophila. Here, we show that in the sperm heteromorphic Mediterranean flour moth, Ephestia kuehniella, infected males transfer fewer fertile sperm at mating than uninfected males. In contrast, non-fertile apyrene sperm are not affected. This indicates that Wolbachia may only affect fertile sperm production and highlights the potential of the Lepidoptera as a model for examining the mechanism by which Wolbachia induces CI in insects.