Rickettsia symbionts cause parthenogenetic reproduction in the parasitoid wasp Pnigalio soemius (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae).

ABSTRACT: Bacteria in the genus Rickettsia are intracellular symbionts of disparate groups of organisms. Some Rickettsia strains infect vertebrate animals and plants, where they cause diseases, but most strains are vertically inherited symbionts of invertebrates. In insects Rickettsia symbionts are known to have diverse effects on hosts ranging from influencing host fitness to manipulating reproduction. Here we provide evidence that a Rickettsia symbiont causes thelytokous parthenogenesis (in which mothers produce only daughters from unfertilized eggs) in a parasitoid wasp, Pnigalio soemius (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae). Feeding antibiotics to thelytokous female wasps resulted in production of progeny that were almost all males. Cloning and sequencing of a fragment of the 16S rRNA gene amplified with un

SUBMITTER: Giorgini M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2849191 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature