Transgenic Testing Does Not Support a Role for Additional Candidate Genes in <i>Wolbachia</i> Male Killing or Cytoplasmic Incompatibility
Jessamyn I. Perlmutter, Jane E. Meyers, Seth R. Bordenstein
Abstract
Wolbachia are widespread bacterial endosymbionts that manipulate the reproduction of diverse arthropods to spread through a population and can substantially shape host evolution. Recently, reports identified three prophage WO genes ( wmk , cifA , and cifB ) that transgenically recapitulate many aspects of reproductive manipulation in Drosophila melanogaster . Here, we transgenically tested 10 additional gene candidates for CI and/or male killing in flies. The results yield no evidence for the involvement of these gene candidates in reproductive parasitism, bolstering the evidence for identification of the cif and wmk genes as the major factors involved in their phenotypes. In addition, evidence supports new hypotheses for prediction of male-killing phenotypes or lack thereof based on wmk transcript length and copy number. These experiments inform efforts to understand the full basis of reproductive parasitism for basic and applied purposes and lay the foundation for future work on the function of an interesting group of Wolbachia and phage WO genes.