Wolbachia do not live by reproductive manipulation alone: infection polymorphism in Drosophila suzukii and D. subpulchrella.

ABSTRACT: Drosophila suzukii recently invaded North America and Europe. Populations in Hawaii, California, New York and Nova Scotia are polymorphic for Wolbachia, typically with <20% infection frequency. The Wolbachia in D. suzukii, denoted wSuz, is closely related to wRi, the variant prevalent in continental populations of D. simulans. wSuz is also nearly identical to Wolbachia found in D. subpulchrella, plausibly D. suzukii's sister species. This suggests vertical Wolbachia transmission through cladogenesis ('cladogenic transmission'). The widespread occurrence of 7-20% infection frequencies indicates a stable polymorphism. wSuz is imperfectly maternally transmitted, with wild infected females producing on average 5-10% uninfected progeny. As expected from its low frequency, wSuz produces no cytop

SUBMITTER: Hamm CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4180775 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature