title: Rapid spread of a bacterial symbiont in an invasive whitefly is driven by fitness benefits and female bias.
abstract: Maternally inherited bacterial symbionts of arthropods are common, yet symbiont invasions of host populations have rarely been observed. Here, we show that Rickettsia sp. nr. bellii swept into a population of an invasive agricultural pest, the sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, in just 6 years. Compared with uninfected whiteflies, Rickettsia-infected whiteflies produced more offspring, had higher survival to adulthood, developed faster, and produced a higher proportion of daughters. The symbiont thus functions as both mutualist and reproductive manipulator. The observed increased performance and sex-ratio bias of infected whiteflies are sufficient to explain the spread of Rickettsia across the southwestern United States. Symbiont invasions such as this represent a sudden evolutionary shift for the host, with potentially large impacts on its ecology and invasiveness.
authors.affiliation: Center for Insect Science, The University of Arizona, Post Office Box 210106, Tucson, AZ 85721-0106, USA.
authors.forename: Anna G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Himler
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Adachi-Hagimori
authors.forename: Jacqueline E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bergen
authors.forename: Amaranta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kozuch
authors.forename: Suzanne E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.forename: Bruce E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Tabashnik
authors.forename: Elad
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chiel
authors.forename: Victoria E
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Duckworth
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Dennehy
authors.forename: Einat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Zchori-Fein
authors.forename: Martha S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hunter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012098:Reproduction; D012281:Rickettsia / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012744:Sex Ratio; D015206:Southwestern United States; D013559:Symbiosis