Experimental evidence of Wolbachia introgressive acquisition between terrestrial isopod subspecies.

ABSTRACT: Wolbachia are the most widespread endosymbiotic bacteria in animals. In many arthropod host species, they manipulate reproduction via several mechanisms that favor their maternal transmission to offspring. Among them, cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) promotes the spread of the symbiont by specifically decreasing the fertility of crosses involving infected males and uninfected females, via embryo mortality. These differences in reproductive efficiency may select for the avoidance of incompatible mating, a process called reinforcement, and thus contribute to population divergence. In the terrestrial isopod Porcellio dilatatus, the Wolbachia wPet strain infecting the subspecies P. d. petiti induces unidirectional CI with uninfected individuals of the subspecies

SUBMITTER: Bech N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8489008 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature