Muscidifurax uniraptor

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Muscidifurax uniraptor
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hymenoptera
Family:
Pteromalidae
Genus:
Muscidifurax
Species:
M. uniraptor
Binomial name
Muscidifurax uniraptor

Muscidifurax uniraptor is a species of wasp (the taxonomic order Hymenoptera) in the family Pteromalidae. [1] The species does not currently have a common name. M. uniraptor is a pupal parasitoid of synanthropic filth-breeding Diptera and is a natural enemy of the housefly Musca domestica and the stable fly Stomoxys calcitrans . [2]

Wolbachia symbiosis

Wolbachia is a cytoplasmically inherited intracellular bacterium. It can generally be found in the reproductive organs of its host species, and can be transferred from female to offspring through the egg cytoplasm. [3] This species causes many reproductive and sex ratio disorders in a range of insect species. [2] However, it seems to be beneficial when present in the host species, M. uniraptor, increasing the host's fecundity or the ability to induce reproduction of fertile, viable offspring specifically under uniparental reproduction. The actual process of gamete duplication differs among the insects that have been infected with Wolbachia , including a similar species of wasp called Muscidifurax raptorellus. The bacterium has been known to cause negative side effects such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, thelytoky, and feminization in the reproductive habits of these various insect species. [4] Traditionally, M. uniraptor determines the sex of offspring using haplodiploidy. The males are produced as haploids from unfertilized eggs while the females are produced as diploids from fertilized eggs. [3] According to this practice, M. uniraptor would normally produce both male and female offspring. However, in M. uniraptor, Wolbachia causes thelytoky, a type of parthenogenesis in which females asexually reproduce only female offspring. [2]

M. uniraptor generally follows the process of automixis, or meiotic thelytoky, where meiosis occurs in the developing oocyte and diploidy is restored by fusing the meiotic or mitotic products yielding diploid females or haploid males. [3] However, the bacterium, Wolbachia, has evolved with this species of wasp through vertical transfer to induce irreversible thelytokous reproduction of only female offspring. [5] When M. uniraptor females receive experimentally administered antibiotics, such as rifampicin, the strains of Wolbachia become eradicated, and the females should hypothetically be able to produce both male and female offspring since the bacteria are not present to induce thelytoky. However, the resulting male offspring of these experiments do not carry viable sperm. [2] This implies that Wolbachia establishes itself early in the females in order to ensure its transfer into further hosts, at the risk of removing the current host's ability to sexually reproduce by not allowing it to produce fertile, viable male offspring. There are three primary reasons for why M. uniraptor has become so dependent on Wolbachia for survival and reproduction. The males of the species no longer produce viable sperm for sexual reproduction, and the females do not respond to any cues or advances by the males for sexual reproduction. Finally, the females lose a major muscle in their spermathecae that allow them to contain sperm after sexual reproduction. [5] Therefore, without the symbiotic relationship between Wolbachia and M. uniraptor, the wasp species would not persist alone by means of sexual reproduction because of these evolutionary alterations that increase the fitness of the persisting relationship with the bacteria. The bacteria have seemingly inhibited the wasps' reproductive pathways through selective pressures to increase the fitness of their relationship, and the wasp is unlikely to regress to its former state of sexual reproduction as a result of these genetic alterations. Muscidifurax uniraptor now holds an endosymbiotic relationship with Wolbachia, and it has evolved to depend on these bacteria for reproduction and survival which results in the successful relationship we currently observe.

Related Research Articles

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Polygynandry is a mating system in which both males and females have multiple mating partners during a breeding season. In sexually reproducing diploid animals, different mating strategies are employed by males and females, because the cost of gamete production is lower for males than it is for females. The different mating tactics employed by males and females are thought to be the outcome of stochastic reproductive conflicts both ecologically and socially.

A mating system is a way in which a group is structured in relation to sexual behaviour. The precise meaning depends upon the context. With respect to animals, the term describes which males and females mate under which circumstances. Recognised systems include monogamy, polygamy, and promiscuity, all of which lead to different mate choice outcomes and thus these systems affect how sexual selection works in the species which practice them. In plants, the term refers to the degree and circumstances of outcrossing. In human sociobiology, the terms have been extended to encompass the formation of relationships such as marriage.

<i>Wolbachia</i> Genus of bacteria in the Alphaproteobacteria class

Wolbachia is a genus of intracellular bacteria that infects mainly arthropod species, including a high proportion of insects, and also some nematodes. It is one of the most common parasitic microbes and is possibly the most common reproductive parasite in the biosphere. Its interactions with its hosts are often complex, and in some cases have evolved to be mutualistic rather than parasitic. Some host species cannot reproduce, or even survive, without Wolbachia colonisation. One study concluded that more than 16% of neotropical insect species carry bacteria of this genus, and as many as 25 to 70% of all insect species are estimated to be potential hosts.

Male Sex of an organism which produces sperm

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<i>Trichogramma</i> Genus of parasitic insects

Trichogramma is a genus of minute polyphagous wasps that are endoparasitoids of insect eggs. Trichogramma is one of around 80 genera from the family Trichogrammatidae, with over 200 species worldwide.

Thelytoky

Thelytoky is a type of parthenogenesis in which females are produced from unfertilized eggs, as for example in aphids. Thelytokous parthenogenesis is rare among animals and reported in about 1,500 species, about 1 in 1000 of described animal species, according to a 1984 study. It is more common in invertebrates, like arthropods, but it can occur in vertebrates, including salamanders, fish, and reptiles such as some whiptail lizards.

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Arrhenotoky, also known as arrhenotokous parthenogenesis, is a form of parthenogenesis in which unfertilized eggs develop into males. In most cases, parthenogenesis produces exclusively female offspring, hence the distinction.

Haplodiploidy Biological system where sex is determined by the number of sets of chromosomes

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Parthenogenesis Asexual reproduction without fertilization

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Sexual reproduction Reproduction process that creates a new organism by combining the genetic material of two organisms

Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete with a single set of chromosomes (haploid) combines with another to produce a zygote that develops into an organism composed of cells with two sets of chromosomes (diploid). Sexual reproduction is the most common life cycle in multicellular eukaryotes, such as animals, fungi and plants. Sexual reproduction does not occur in prokaryotes, but they have processes with similar effects such as bacterial conjugation, transformation and transduction, which may have been precursors to sexual reproduction in early eukaryotes.

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Mycocepurus smithii is a species of fungus-growing ant from Latin America. This species is widely distributed geographically and can be found from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south, as well as on some Caribbean Islands. It lives in a variety of forested habitats and associated open areas. Two studies published in 2009 demonstrated that some populations of the species consist exclusively of females which reproduce via thelytokous parthenogenesis. A detailed study found evidence of sexual reproduction in some populations in the Brazilian Amazon. Accordingly, M. smithii consists of a mosaic of sexually and asexually reproducing populations. In asexual populations all ants in a single colony are female clones of the queen. Inside the colony, the ants cultivate a garden of fungus grown with pieces of dead vegetable matter, dead insects, and insect droppings.

Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is a phenomenon that results in sperm and eggs being unable to form viable offspring. The effect arises from changes in the gamete cells caused by intracellular parasites like Wolbachia, which infect a wide range of insect species. As the reproductive incompatibility is caused by bacteria that reside in the cytoplasm of the host cells, it is referred to as cytoplasmic incompatibility. In 1971, Janice Yen and A. Ralph Barr of UCLA demonstrated the etiologic relationship of Wolbachia infection and cytoplasmic incompatibility in Culex mosquitos when they found that eggs were killed when the sperm of Wolbachia-infected males fertilized infection-free eggs.

<i>Ooceraea biroi</i> Species of ant

Ooceraea biroi, the clonal raider ant, is a queenless clonal ant in the genus Ooceraea. Native to the Asian mainland, this species has become invasive on tropical and subtropical islands throughout the world. Unlike most ants, which have reproductive queens and mostly nonreproductive workers, all individuals in a O. biroi colony reproduce clonally via thelytokous parthenogenesis. Like most dorylines, O. biroi are obligate myrmecophages and raid nests of other ant species to feed on the brood.

Arsenophonus nasoniae is a species of bacterium which was previously isolated from Nasonia vitripennis, a species of parasitoid wasp. These wasps are generalists which afflict the larvae of parasitic carrion flies such as blowflies, houseflies and flesh flies. A. nasoniae belongs to the phylum Pseudomonadota and family Morganellaceae.The genus Arsenophonus, has a close relationship to the Proteus (bacterium) rather than to that of Salmonella and Escherichia. The genus is composed of gammaproteobacterial, secondary-endosymbionts which are gram-negative. Cells are non-flagellated, non-motile, non-spore forming and form long to highly filamentous rods. Cellular division is exhibited through septation. The name 'Arsenophonus nasoniae gen. nov., sp. nov.' was therefore proposed for the discovered bacterium due to its characteristics and its microbial interaction with N. vitripennis. The type strain of A. nasoniae is Strain SKI4.

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"Candidatus Cardinium" is a genus of Gram-negative parasitic bacteria that reside within cells of some arthropods and nematodes. Although they have not yet been isolated in pure culture, they are known to negatively influence reproduction in their hosts in order to further their own proliferation. This leads to their classification as a reproductive parasite. One of the only other examples of this type of parasitism is the genus Wolbachia, which also infects arthropods. These two genera can also co-infect the same animal, as in some nematodes. "Candidatus Cardinium" bacteria use many of the same methods to interfere with host reproduction as Wolbachia, including inducing cytoplasmic incompatibility and distorting the sex ratio in the host population to favor females. The mechanisms by which "Candidatus Cardinium" induces these conditions in hosts are thought to be different from the mechanisms used by Wolbachia. "Candidatus Cardinium" bacteria are maternally inherited; infections are maintained through generations through the egg cells. It is estimated that 6–10% of all arthropods are infected with "Candidatus Cardinium" bacteria.

References

  1. ↑ Myers, P. (2015). "Muscidifurax Uniraptor". The Animal Diversity Web. Retrieved October 21, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Zchori-Fein, Einat; Gottlieb, Yuval; Coll, Moshe. "Wolbachia Density and Host Fitness Components in Muscidifurax uniraptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)" (PDF). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 75 (4): 267–272. doi:10.1006/jipa.2000.4927. PMID   10843833 . Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Gottlieb, Yuval; Zchori-Fein, Einat (4 September 2002). "Diploidy restoration in Wolbachia-infected Muscidifurax uniraptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae)" (PDF). Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 81 (3): 166–174. doi:10.1016/s0022-2011(02)00149-0 . Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  4. ↑ Meer, Marnix M. M. van; Stouthamer, Richard (17 August 1998). "Cross-order transfer of Wolbachia from Muscidifurax uniraptor (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) to Drosophila simulans (Diptera: Drosophilidae)". Heredity. 82 (2): 163–169. doi: 10.1038/sj.hdy.6884610 .
  5. 1 2 Gottlieb, Yuval; Zchori-Fein, Einat (May 1, 2001). "Irreversible thelytokous reproduction in Muscidifurax uniraptor" (PDF). Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata. 100 (3): 271–278. doi:10.1046/j.1570-7458.2001.00874.x.
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