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The First Finding of a Rickettsia Bacterium Associated with Parthenogenesis Induction Among Insects

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Abstract

The larval endoparasitoid, Neochrysocharis formosa (Westwood), is an important natural enemy of the leafminer Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess) in Japan. The thelytokous strain of N. formosa mostly produces female progeny. Male progeny were produced by females treated with tetracycline, suggesting that microorganisms induce thelytoky in N. formosa. The result of nucleotide sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene indicated that the parasitoid is infected with a Rickettsia bacterium, which appears to be causative of the thelytoky. Although Rickettsia-bellii-like bacteria have been found to be associated with various reproductive disorders, this is the first finding of a parthenogenesis-inducing Rickettsia among insects.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Drs. R. Stouthamer and E. Zchori-Fein for their critical reading of the original manuscript. The authors thank Drs. H. Takada and Y. Yoshiyasu for suggestions. The authors also thank Sumitomo Chemical Co. Ltd and Mr. M. Ohtaishi for providing N. formosa and L. sativae, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Biosphere Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-hiroshima , 739-8511, Japan

    Tetsuya Hagimori

  2. Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto Prefectural University, Kyoto, 606-8522, Japan

    Yoshihisa Abe & Shuichi Date

  3. National Agricultural Research Center for Western Region, Fukuyama, 721-8514, Japan

    Kazuki Miura

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  1. Tetsuya Hagimori
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  2. Yoshihisa Abe
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  3. Shuichi Date
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  4. Kazuki Miura
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Correspondence to Tetsuya Hagimori.

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Hagimori, T., Abe, Y., Date, S. et al. The First Finding of a Rickettsia Bacterium Associated with Parthenogenesis Induction Among Insects. Curr Microbiol 52, 97–101 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-005-0092-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-005-0092-0

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