Competitive outcome of multiple infections in a behavior-manipulating virus/wasp interaction.

ABSTRACT: Infections by multiple parasites are common in nature and may impact the evolution of host-parasite interactions. We investigated the existence of multiple infections involving the DNA virus LbFV and the Drosophila parasitoid Leptopilina boulardi. This vertically transmitted virus forces infected females to lay their eggs in already parasitized Drosophila larvae (a behavior called superparasitism), thus favoring its spread through horizontal transmission. Previous theoretical work indicated that the evolution of the level of the manipulation strongly depends on whether infected parasitoids can be re-infected or not. Here, we describe a strain of LbFV that differs from the reference strain by showing a deletion within the locus used for PCR detection. We used this polymorphism to test for t

SUBMITTER: Martinez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4717342 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature