Nonrandom Wolbachia infection status of Drosophila melanogaster strains with different mtDNA haplotypes.

ABSTRACT: Wolbachia are maternally inherited bacteria, which typically spread in the host population by inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). In Drosophila melanogaster, Wolbachia is quite common but CI is variable, with most of the studies reporting low levels of CI. Surveying mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation and infection status in a worldwide D. melanogaster collection, we found that the Wolbachia infection was not randomly distributed among flies with different mtDNA haplotypes. This preferential infection of some mtDNA haplotypes could be caused by a recent spread of mtDNA haplotypes associated with the infection. The comparison of contemporary D. melanogaster samples with lines collected more than 50 years ago shows that indeed one haplotype with a high incidence of Wolbachia infection

SUBMITTER: Nunes MD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2568037 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature