Wolbachia as populations within individual insects: causes and consequences of density variation in natural populations

The population-level dynamics of maternally transmitted endosymbionts, including reproductive parasites, depends primarily on the fitness effects and transmission fidelity of these infections. Although experimental laboratory studies have shown that within-host endosymbiont density can affect both o...

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Published inProceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 276; no. 1668; pp. 2805 - 2811
Main Authors Unckless, Robert L., Boelio, Lisa M., Herren, Jeremy K., Jaenike, John
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London The Royal Society 07.08.2009
Subjects
Aging
Animals
Artificial flies
Density
Density estimation
Drosophila
Drosophila - microbiology
Drosophila innubila
Endosymbionts
Feeding Behavior
Female
Infection Prevalence
Infections
Lognormal Distribution
Male
Male Killing
Polymerase chain reaction
Population density
Qpcr
Rainy seasons
Sex Ratio
Transmission Fidelity
Wolbachia
Wolbachia - physiology
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Summary:The population-level dynamics of maternally transmitted endosymbionts, including reproductive parasites, depends primarily on the fitness effects and transmission fidelity of these infections. Although experimental laboratory studies have shown that within-host endosymbiont density can affect both of these factors, the existence of such effects in natural populations has not yet been documented. Using quantitative PCR, we survey the density of male-killing Wolbachia in natural populations of Drosophila innubila females from the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona. We find that there is substantial (20 000-fold) variation in Wolbachia density among wild flies and that within-host Wolbachia density is positively correlated with both the efficacy of male killing and maternal transmission fidelity. Mean Wolbachia density increases three- to five-fold from early to late in the season. This pattern suggests that Wolbachia density declines with fly age, a conclusion corroborated by a laboratory study of Wolbachia density as a function of age. Finally, we suggest three alternative hypotheses to account for the approximately lognormal distribution of Wolbachia density among wild flies.
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ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2009.0287