Researchers from Shenyang Agricultural University (SAU), China have shown that Wolbachia bacteria had manipulated the wasp Encarsia formosa to entirely get rid of its males.
Key findings
- The SAU researchers noticed that in the wild the E. formosa wasp almost never produced males.
- E. formosa wasps are of interest to agricultural scientists because they provide an efficient way to control whiteflies.
- Whiteflies feed on the sap of plant leaves, causing productivity losses, and are thus a major agricultural pest.
- A gene named tra has an evolutionarily conserved role in promoting female development in insects.
- That is, if the tra gene mutates, cells won’t be able to make a functional Tra protein, and progeny development proceeds along the default mode towards male production.
Wolbachia bacteria
- Two American researchers named Marshall Hertig and Simeon Burt Wolbach discovered that mosquitoes harboured bacteria within their cells.
- Other researchers later found similar bacteria in the cells of most insects and many other arthropods.
- The genus to which the bacteria belonged was named Wolbachia. Wolbachia bacteria are also present in insect eggs but they are absent in the sperm.
- This means females can transmit Wolbachia to their offspring whereas males can’t.
- As a result, Wolbachia have evolved ways to manipulate their insect hosts to produce more female than male progeny.
(Source: The Hindu)
