title: Male killing caused by a Spiroplasma symbiont in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus.
abstract: Spiroplasma-mediated late male killing was found in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus. Female-biased colonies (maternal lines, N = 4) were established from planthoppers collected in Taiwan and Japan. This sex ratio distortion was maternally inherited (sex ratio of total number of progenies [female:male]: 488:0 in F1, 198:7 in F2, 407:0 in F3; likelihood ratio test of all generations, P < 0.0001) and caused by male death during nymphal stages. The female-biased colonies were doubly infected with Spiroplasma and Wolbachia, and the non-biased colonies were infected solely with Wolbachia. Antibiotic treatment resulted in a normal sex ratio, strongly suggesting that bacteria are manipulating host reproduction. Spiroplasma-singly-infected planthopper colonies created by the antibiotic treatment produced progeny with strongly female-biased sex ratios (181:2; likelihood ratio test, χ(2) = 231.6, P < 0.0001). This is the first report of Spiroplasma-mediated male killing in hemimetabolous insects.
authors: the NARO Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center, Koshi, Kumamoto 861-1192, Japan.
authors: Sachiyo
authors: S
authors: Sanada-Morimura
authors: Masaya
authors: M
authors: Matsumura
authors: Hiroaki
authors: H
authors: Noda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000145:classification / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012744:Sex Ratio; D013149:Spiroplasma / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013559:Symbiosis
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
keywords: bacterial symbiont; hemimetabolous insect; phylogenetic tree; sex ratio distortion