Infectious speciation revisited: impact of symbiont-depletion on female fitness and mating behavior of Drosophila paulistorum.

ABSTRACT: The neotropical Drosophila paulistorum superspecies, consisting of at least six geographically overlapping but reproductively isolated semispecies, has been the object of extensive research since at least 1955, when it was initially trapped mid-evolution in flagrant statu nascendi. In this classic system females express strong premating isolation patterns against mates belonging to any other semispecies, and yet uncharacterized microbial reproductive tract symbionts were described triggering hybrid inviability and male sterility. Based on theoretical models and limited experimental data, prime candidates fostering symbiont-driven speciation in arthropods are intracellular bacteria belonging to the genus Wolbachia. They are maternally inherited symbionts of many arthropods capable of manipu

SUBMITTER: Miller WJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2996333 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature