Effects of Wolbachia infection on the postmating response in Drosophila melanogaster

The series of stereotypical physiological and behavioral changes that female insects exhibit after mating are called postmating responses (PMR). Wolbachia are widespread intracellular bacteria that are well known for their ability to manipulate the host's reproductive behavior to facilitate the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Behavioral ecology and sociobiology 2018-09, Vol.72 (9), p.1-12, Article 146
Main Authors: He, Zhen, Zhang, Hua-Bao, Li, Shi-Tian, Yu, Wen-Juan, Biwot, John, Yu, Xiao-Qiang, Peng, Yu, Wang, Yu-Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal Ecology
Animal reproduction
Bacteria
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Copulation
Disease control
Disease transmission
Drosophila melanogaster
Egg laying
Endosymbionts
Feeding
Females
Gene expression
Infections
Insects
Intracellular
Life Sciences
Life span
Males
Mating
Nematodes
Original Article
Parasitic diseases
Pest control
Pests
Physiology
Population studies
Populations
Proteins
Reproductive behavior
Reproductive system
Seminal fluid
Vectors
Wolbachia
Zoology
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Summary:The series of stereotypical physiological and behavioral changes that female insects exhibit after mating are called postmating responses (PMR). Wolbachia are widespread intracellular bacteria that are well known for their ability to manipulate the host's reproductive behavior to facilitate their own maternal spreading. The effect of Wolbachia infection on insect hosts' PMR is not well understood. Here, we showed that after mating with male Drosophila melanogaster infected with Wolbachia, the uninfected female showed a significant decrease in egg laying on the first day. Furthermore, both Wolbachia-infected and Wolbachia-uninfected females mated with infected males exhibited reduced feeding frequency, low receptivity to remating, and an extended median life span compared to those mated with uninfected males. To determine how Wolbachia triggered these alterations, we detected the influence of Wolbachia infection on the expression of some genes encoding seminal fluid proteins (Sips) in D. melanogaster. These seminal fluid proteins are known to contribute to PMR upon transfer to females during copulation. We found that Acp26Aa, CG1656, and CG42474 were significantly downregulated in Wolbachia-infccted males, whereas SP, CG1652, CG9997, and CG17575 showed no significant difference between Wolbachia-infected and Wolbachia-uninfected males. These results suggest that by decreasing the expression of some Sfps in the male hosts, Wolbachia may modulate sexual conflicts of their insect hosts in a way favoring females, thus benefit their own transmission through host populations. This study provides new insights into the host-endosymbiont interaction, which may support the application of endosymbionts for the control of pests and disease vectors.
ISSN:0340-5443
1432-0762
DOI:10.1007/s00265-018-2561-z