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Spiroplasma in Drosophila melanogaster Populations: Prevalence, Male-Killing, Molecular Identification, and No Association with Wolbachia

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Abstract

Spiroplasma endosymbionts are maternally transmitted bacteria that may kill infected sons resulting in the production of female-biased broods. The prevalence of male killers varies considerably both between and within species. Here, we evaluate the spatial and temporal status of male-killing and non-male-killing Spiroplasma infection in three Brazilian populations of Drosophila melanogaster, nearly a decade after the first occurrence report for this species. The incidence of the male-killing Spiroplasma ranged from close to 0 to 17.7 % (so far the highest estimate for a Drosophila species) with a suggestion of temporal decline in a population. We also found non-male-killing Spiroplasma coexisting in one population at lower prevalence (3–5 %), and we did not detect it in the other two. This may be taken as a suggestion of a spreading advantage conferred by the male-killing strategy. Sequencing two loci, we identified the phylogenetic position of Spiroplasma strains from the three localities, showing that all strains group closely in the poulsonii clade. Due to intensive sampling effort, we were able to test the association between Spiroplasma infections and another widespread endosymbiont, Wolbachia, whose prevalence ranged from 81.8 to 100 %. The prevalence of Wolbachia did not differ between Spiroplasma-infected and uninfected strains in our largest sample nor were the prevalences of the two endosymbionts associated across localities.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ana Teresa Brito, Lucilene Silva, Cynthia Brito, and Helvécio Santana for fly collections in Salvador and Paulo de Tarso Araripe, in Rio de Janeiro; Tamara Haselkorn for helpful tips; Julia Klaczko, Salete Couto, and Claudete Couto for technical help; and three anonymous referees for suggestions. Márcio José da Silva helped with the sequencing of DNA fragments. Financial support is received from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo, and Fundo de Apoio ao Ensino, à Pesquisa e à Extensão–Unicamp.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Archiving

Sequence data will be submitted to GenBank after the article acceptance, in accordance with the Instructions for Authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Genética, Evolução e Bioagentes, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Cx. Postal 6109, Campinas, 13083-970, São Paulo, Brazil

    Iuri M. Ventura, Klélia A. Carvalho & Louis B. Klaczko

  2. Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, USP, São Paulo, Brazil

    Ayana B. Martins

  3. Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

    Mariana L. Lyra

  4. Departamento de Biologia Marinha, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Carlos A. C. Andrade

Authors
  1. Iuri M. Ventura
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  2. Ayana B. Martins
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  3. Mariana L. Lyra
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  4. Carlos A. C. Andrade
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  5. Klélia A. Carvalho
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  6. Louis B. Klaczko
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Louis B. Klaczko.

Additional information

Iuri M. Ventura and Ayana B. Martins contributed equally to this work.

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Supplementary information is available at Microbial Ecology's website.

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Ventura, I.M., Martins, A.B., Lyra, M.L. et al. Spiroplasma in Drosophila melanogaster Populations: Prevalence, Male-Killing, Molecular Identification, and No Association with Wolbachia . Microb Ecol 64, 794–801 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0054-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-012-0054-6

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