title: Misdirection of dosage compensation underlies bidirectional sex-specific death in Wolbachia-infected Ostrinia scapulalis.
abstract: Endosymbiotic bacteria of the genus Wolbachia often manipulate the reproductive system of their hosts to propagate themselves in host populations. Ostrinia scapulalis moths infected with Wolbachia (wSca) produce female-only progeny (sex chromosomes: ZW), whereas females cured of the infection by antibiotic treatment produce male-only progeny (ZZ). The occurrence of female- and male-only progeny has been attributed to the specific death of the opposite sex during embryonic and larval development. In this bidirectional sex-specific lethality, embryos destined to die express a phenotypic sex opposite to their genotypic sex. On the basis of these findings, we suggested that wSca carries a genetic factor that feminizes the male host, the W chromosome of the host has lost its feminizing function, and discordance between the genotypic and phenotypic sexes underlies this sex-specific death. In the present study, we examined whether the failure of dosage compensation was responsible for this sex-specific mortality. Quantitative PCRs showed that Z-linked gene expression levels in embryos destined to die were not properly dosage compensated; they were approximately two-fold higher in the male progeny of wSca-infected females and approximately two-fold lower in the female progeny of infected-and-cured females. These results support our hypothesis that misdirection of dosage compensation underlies the sex-specific death.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan. Electronic address: sugimoto.tn@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Takafumi N
authors.initials: TN
authors.lastname: Sugimoto
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ohwashi 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8634, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kayukawa
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ohwashi 1-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8634, Japan.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shinoda
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, Toyama, Toyama 930-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003643:Death; D004303:Dosage Compensation, Genetic; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D009036:Moths / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D012730:Sex Chromosomes; D012733:Sex Differentiation; D012744:Sex Ratio; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000494:pharmacology; D020577:Wolbachia / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D013752:Tetracycline
keywords: Dosage compensation; Feminization; Male killing; Ostrinia scapulalis; Sex-specific death; Wolbachia