A stable triple Wolbachia infection in Drosophila with nearly additive incompatibility effects.
Drosophila simulans strains infected with three different Wolbachia strains were generated by experimental injection of a third symbiont into a naturally double-infected strain. This transfer led to a substantial increase in total Wolbachia density in the host strain. Each of the three symbionts was stably transmitted in the presence of the other two. Triple-infected males were incompatible with double-infected females. No evidence was obtained for interference between modification effects of the different Wolbachia strains in males. Some incompatibility was observed between triple-infected males and females. However, this incompatibility reaction is not a specific property of triple-infected flies, because it was also observed in double-infected strains.
Rousset
F
F
Section of Vector Biology, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University School of Medicine, 60 College St., New Haven, CT 06510, USA. rousset@isem.univ-montp2.fr
Braig
H R
HR
O'Neill
S L
SL
D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology; D012287:Rickettsiaceae / Q000502:physiology*