Do Wolbachia in ̄uence fecundity in Nasonia vitripennis?
نویسندگان
چکیده
This paper reports the in ̄uence of a vertically transmitted symbiont, Wolbachia, on host ®tness in the parasitic wasp, Nasonia vitripennis. We measured fecundities of uninfected strains and strains infected with either two Wolbachia variants (wAv,wBv) or one (wAv or wBv). Preliminary tests suggested that double-infected females produce more ospring on average than uninfected females. However, further studies failed to yield consistent ®tness eects. To control for host genetic eects, the genotype of the double-infected and uninfected strain was `replaced' with three dierent host genetic backgrounds by introgression. Contrary to previous results, we found no convincing evidence for positive ®tness eects of Wolbachia in Nasonia vitripennis, once host genetic background was controlled for. It can be concluded that under the experimental design used here, the fecundity eects associated with Wolbachia in N. vitripennis are small or absent.
منابع مشابه
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