21526927
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
Wolbachia wSinvictaA infections in natural populations of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta: testing for phenotypic effects.
Wolbachia are intracellular bacteria that commonly infect many arthropods and some nematodes. In arthropods, these maternally transmitted bacteria often induce a variety of phenotypic effects to enhance their own spread within host populations. Wolbachia phenotypic effects generally either provide benefits to infected host females (cytoplasmic incompatibility, positive fitness effects) or bias host sex ratio in favor of females (male-killing, parthenogenesis, feminization), all of which increase the relative production of infected females in host populations. Wolbachia surveys have found infections to be exceedingly common in ants, but little is known at this juncture as to what phenotypic effects, if any, they induce in this group. Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals from native populations of the invasive fire ant Solenopsis invicta commonly harbor one or more of three Wolbachia variants. One of the variants, wSinvictaA, typically occurs at low prevalence in S. invicta populations, appears to have been transmitted horizontally into S. invicta three or more times, and has been lost repeatedly from host lineages over time. In order to determine the phenotypic effects and likely population dynamics of wSinvictaA infections in these ants, brood production patterns of newly mated fire ant queens were studied during simulated claustral founding and measured wSinvictaA transmission fidelity within mature single-queen families. No clear evidence was found for Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility, significant fitness effects, or male-killing. Maternal transmission was perfect to both virgin queens and males. Possible mechanisms for how this variant could be maintained in host populations are discussed.
Ann file
T1 Species 10 20 wSinvictaA
N1 Reference T1 Taxonomy:400223
T2 Species 62 70 fire ant
N2 Reference T2 Taxonomy:13686
T3 Species 71 89 Solenopsis invicta
N3 Reference T3 Taxonomy:13686
T4 Species 960 968 fire ant
N4 Reference T4 Taxonomy:13686
T5 Species 969 987 Solenopsis invicta
N5 Reference T5 Taxonomy:13686
T6 Species 1116 1126 S. invicta
N6 Reference T6 Taxonomy:13686
T7 Species 1191 1201 S. invicta
N7 Reference T7 Taxonomy:13686
T8 Species 1361 1371 wSinvictaA
N8 Reference T8 Taxonomy:400223
T9 Species 1439 1447 fire ant
N9 Reference T9 Taxonomy:13686
T10 Species 1517 1527 wSinvictaA
N10 Reference T10 Taxonomy:400223
T11 Species 1066 1076 wSinvictaA
N11 Reference T11 Taxonomy:400223