This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Anbutsu, H.
Right arrow Articles by Fukatsu, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Anbutsu, H.
Right arrow Articles by Fukatsu, T.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Anbutsu, H.
Right arrow Articles by Fukatsu, T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 6053-6059, Vol. 74, No. 19
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01503-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

High and Low Temperatures Differently Affect Infection Density and Vertical Transmission of Male-Killing Spiroplasma Symbionts in Drosophila Hosts{triangledown}

Hisashi Anbutsu,* Shunsuke Goto, and Takema Fukatsu

Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan

Received 3 July 2008/ Accepted 7 August 2008

We investigated the vertical transmission, reproductive phenotype, and infection density of a male-killing Spiroplasma symbiont in two Drosophila species under physiological high and low temperatures through successive host generations. In both the native host Drosophila nebulosa and the nonnative host Drosophila melanogaster, the symbiont infection and the male-killing phenotype were stably maintained at 25°C, rapidly lost at 18°C, and gradually lost at 28°C. In the nonnative host, both the high and low temperatures significantly suppressed the infection density of the spiroplasma. In the native host, by contrast, the low temperature suppressed the infection density of the spiroplasma whereas the high temperature had little effect on the infection density. These results suggested that the low temperature suppresses both the infection density and the vertical transmission of the spiroplasma whereas the high temperature suppresses the vertical transmission preferentially. The spiroplasma density was consistently higher in the native host than in the nonnative host, suggesting that the host genotype may affect the infection density of the symbiont. The temperature- and genotype-dependent instability of the symbiont infection highlights a complex genotype-by-genotype-by-environment interaction and may be relevant to the low infection frequencies of the male-killing spiroplasmas in natural Drosophila populations.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Biological Resources and Functions, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8566, Japan. Phone: 81-29-861-6087. Fax: 81-29-861-6080. E-mail: h-anbutsu{at}aist.go.jp

{triangledown} Published ahead of print on 15 August 2008.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2008, p. 6053-6059, Vol. 74, No. 19
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01503-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»