Tropical Drosophila pandora carry Wolbachia infections causing cytoplasmic incompatibility or male killing

Abstract

Wolbachia infections have been described in several Drosophila species, but relatively few have been assessed for phenotypic effects. Cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) is the most common phenotypic effect that has been detected, while some infections cause male killing or feminization, and many Wolbachia infections have few host effects. Here, we describe two new infections in a recently described species, Drosophila pandora, one of which causes near-complete CI and near-perfect maternal transmission (the "CI" strain). The other infection is a male killer (the "MK" strain), which we confirm by observing reinitiation of male production following tetracycline treatment. No incompatibility was d..