Wolbachiaincreases the susceptibility of a parasitoid wasp to hyperparasitism

Abstract

The success of maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria, such as Wolbachia, is directly linked to their host reproduction but in direct conflict with other parasites that kill the host before it reaches reproductive maturity. Therefore, symbionts that have evolved strategies to increase their host’s ability to evade lethal parasites may have high penetrance, while detrimental symbionts would be selected against, leading to lower penetrance or extinction from the host population. In a natural population of the parasitoid wasp Hyposoter horticola in the Åland Islands (Finland), the Wolbachia strain wHho persists at an intermediate prevalence (∼50%). Additionally, there is a negative correlation between the prevalence of Wolbachia and a hyperparasitoid wasp, Mesochorus cf. stigmaticus, in the landscape. Using a manipulative field experiment, we addressed the persistence of Wolbachia at this intermediate level, and tested whether the observed negative correlation could be due to Wolbachia inducing either susceptibility or resistance to parasitism. We show that infection with Wolbachia does not influence the ability of the wasp to parasitize its butterfly host, Melitaea cinxia, but that hyperparasitism of the wasp increases in the presence of wHho. Consequently, the symbiont is detrimental, and in order to persist in the host population, must also have a positive effect on fitness that outweighs the costly burden of susceptibility to widespread parasitism.

Microbiome diversity in Diaphorina citri populations from Kenya and Tanzania shows links to China

“…There is potential that control measures that decrease "Candidatus Profftella" within D. citri might increase the susceptibility of the insect to predators. Furthermore, the influence of Wolbachia on the increased susceptibility of the psyllid to parasitoids [57] can be exploited.…”

Hyperparasitoids as new targets in biological control in a global change context

“…For example, in populations of the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum (Hemiptera: Aphididae) that are protected by the bacterial endosymbiont Hamiltonella defensa against primary parasitism, there is a reduction in hyperparasitoid emergence not by a direct effect of the endosymbiont on the hyperparasitoid, but through indirect cascading effect resulting from the reduction of specific hosts available for primary parasitism (Mclean et al, 2017). In this sense, protection by endosymbionts is an additional type of bottom-up effect that influences the composition of a parasitoid-hyperparasitoid community (Rothacher et al, 2016;van Nouhuys et al, 2016;Ye et al, 2018). There are, however, no empirical analyses available on how protective symbionts in the host pest or in the primary parasitoid might directly impact hyperparasitoids, nor on how we could control hyperparasitoid fitness through manipulation of endosymbiosis within food-webs (McLean et al, 2016).…”

Co‐occurrence of pederin‐producing and Wolbachia endobacteria in Paederus fuscipes Curtis, 1840 (Coleoptera: Staphilinidae) and its evolutionary consequences

“…More recently, some strains of Wolbachia have been introduced as a weapon in the war against vector‐borne pathogens (Hughes & Rasgon, ; Kambris, Cook, Phuc, & Sinkins, ). Therefore, a variety of Wolbachia strains can have either mutualistic or parasitic outcomes in the insect/pathogens/parasitoids assemblages (van Nouhuys, Kohonen, & Duplouy, ), which should be studied in details when their properties are exploited.…”