Open AccessWolbachia in the spittlebug Prosapia ignipectus : Variable infection frequencies, but no apparent effect on host reproductive isolation
Author(s) -
Wheeler Timothy B.,
Thompson Vinton,
Conner William R.,
Cooper Brandon S.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecology and evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.17
H-Index - 63
ISSN - 2045-7758
DOI - 10.1002/ece3.7782
Subject(s) - wolbachia , biology , cytoplasmic incompatibility , host (biology) , reproductive isolation , zoology , evolutionary biology , genetics , ecology , population , demography , sociology
Animals serve as hosts for complex communities of microorganisms, including endosymbionts that live inside their cells. Wolbachia bacteria are perhaps the most common endosymbionts, manipulating host reproduction to propagate. Many Wolbachia cause cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), which results in reduced egg hatch when uninfected females mate with infected males. Wolbachia that cause intense CI spread to high and relatively stable frequencies, while strains that cause weak or no CI tend to persist at intermediate, often variable, frequencies. Wolbachia could also contribute to host reproductive isolation (RI), although current support for such contributions is limited to a few systems. To test for Wolbachia frequency variation and effects on host RI, we sampled several local Prosapia ignipectus (Fitch) (Hemiptera: Cercopidae) spittlebug populations in the northeastern United States over two years, including closely juxtaposed Maine populations with different monomorphic color forms, “black” and “lined.” We discovered a group‐B Wolbachia ( w Pig) infecting P. ignipectus that diverged from group‐A Wolbachia —like model w Mel and w Ri strains in Drosophila —6 to 46 MYA. Populations of the sister species Prosapia bicincta (Say) from Hawaii and Florida are uninfected, suggesting that P. ignipectus acquired w Pig after their initial divergence. w Pig frequencies were generally high and variable among sites and between years. While phenotyping w Pig effects on host reproduction is not currently feasible, the w Pig genome contains three divergent sets of CI loci, consistent with high w Pig frequencies. Finally, Maine monomorphic black and monomorphic lined populations of P. ignipectus share both w Pig and mtDNA haplotypes, implying no apparent effect of w Pig on the maintenance of this morphological contact zone. We hypothesize P. ignipectus acquired w Pig horizontally as observed for many Drosophila species, and that significant CI and variable transmission produce high but variable w Pig frequencies.