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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2006, p. 6667-6673, Vol. 72, No. 10
0099-2240/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.00803-06
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Prevalence of a Non-Male-Killing Spiroplasma in Natural Populations of Drosophila hydei

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan,¹ Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan,² Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Ehime University, Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan³

Received 5 April 2006/ Accepted 29 July 2006

Male-killing phenotypes are found in a variety of insects and are often associated with maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria. In several species of Drosophila, male-killing endosymbionts of the genus Spiroplasma have been found at low frequencies (0.1 to 3%). In this study, spiroplasma infection without causing male-killing was shown to be prevalent (23 to 66%) in Japanese populations of Drosophila hydei. Molecular phylogenetic analyses showed that D. hydei was infected with a single strain of spiroplasma, which was closely related to male-killing spiroplasmas from other Drosophila species. Artificial-transfer experiments suggested that the spiroplasma genotype rather than the host genotype was responsible for the absence of the male-killing phenotype. Infection densities of the spiroplasma in the natural host, D. hydei, and in the artificial host, Drosophila melanogaster, were significantly lower than those of the male-killing spiroplasma NSRO, which was in accordance with the hypothesis that a threshold infection density is needed for the spiroplasma-induced male-killing expression.