<Emphasis Type="Italic">Wolbachia</Emphasis> infection increases recapture rate of field-released <Emphasis Type="Italic">Drosophila melanogaster</Emphasis> |
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Authors: | Eric P Caragata Kathryn M Real Myron P Zalucki Elizabeth A McGraw |
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Institution: | (1) School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Qld, 4072, Australia; |
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Abstract: | Wolbachia pipientis is a commonly occurring endosymbiont with well-characterised effects on host reproductive biology associated with its infection
of the gonads. Wolbachia infections are also widespread in somatic tissues and consequently they have the potential to play a much broader role in
host biology. Recently, Wolbachia was shown to alter the locomotion of Drosophila melanogaster in response to food cues in the laboratory. To determine whether this laboratory-based phenotype might translate to real
differences for insects in the field, we performed a simple mark-release-recapture experiment with Wolbachia-infected D. melanogaster in a forested habitat. We demonstrate that infected flies are recaptured at twice the rate of uninfected flies, although
infection does not affect the distance traveled by those flies recaptured. The differences in recapture could be explained
by infection-induced changes in physiology or behavior. If generalizable, such changes may affect the interpretation of behavioral
studies for Wolbachia-infected insects and have potential implications for the dynamics of Wolbachia infections in natural populations, including situations where Wolbachia-infected insects are being released for biological control. |
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