Sex-dependent infection causes nonadditive effects on kissing bug fecundity.

ABSTRACT: The influence of parasites on host reproduction has been widely studied in natural and experimental conditions. Most studies, however, have evaluated the parasite impact on female hosts only, neglecting the contribution of males for host reproduction. This omission is unfortunate as sex-dependent infection may have important implications for host-parasite associations. Here, we evaluate for the first time the independent and nonindependent effects of gender infection on host reproductive success using the kissing bug Mepraia spinolai and the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi as model system. We set up four crossing treatments including the following: (1) both genders infected, (2) both genders uninfected, (3) males infected-females uninfected, and (4) males uninfected-females infec

SUBMITTER: Botto-Mahan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5433981 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature