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Background  Insects frequently live in close relationship with symbiotic bacteria that carry out beneficial functions for their host, like protection against parasites and viruses. However, in some cases, the mutualistic nature of such associations is put into question because of detrimental phenotypes caused by the symbiont. One example is the association between the vertically transmitted facultative endosymbiont  Spiroplasma poulsonii  and its natural host  Drosophila melanogaster.  Whereas  S. poulsonii  protects its host against parasitoid wasps and nematodes by the action of toxins from the family of Ribosome Inactivating Proteins (RIPs), the presence of  S. poulsonii  has been reported to reduce host’s life span and to kill male embryos by a toxin called  Spaid . In this work, we investigate the harmful effects of  Spiroplasma  RIPs on  Drosophila  in the absence of parasite infection.    Results  We show that only two  Spiroplasma  RIPs ( SpRIP1  and  SpRIP2 ) among the five RIP genes encoded in the  S. poulsonii  genome are significantly expressed during the whole  Drosophila  life cycle. Heterologous expression of  SpRIP1  and  2  in uninfected flies confirms their toxicity, as indicated by a reduction of  Drosophila  lifespan and hemocyte number. We also show that RIPs can cause the death of some embryos, including females.    Conclusion  Our results indicate that RIPs released by  S. poulsonii  contribute to the reduction of host lifespan and embryo mortality. This suggests that  SpRIPs  may impact the insect-symbiont homeostasis beyond their protective function against parasites.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (10.1186/s12866-019-1410-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Functional analysis of RIP toxins from the Drosophila endosymbiont Spiroplasma poulsonii