Wolbachia and the Ant

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Wolbachia and the Ant

• Vanda Makris
• June 3, 2003
• Microbial Ecology

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• General Information about Wolbachia
• Tree of Life
• Relationship with Ants
• Effects of Wolbachia on Ant
• Other species

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WolbachiaGeneral Info

• a-proteobacteria
• Maternally transmitted
• Primarily infect arthropods (insects)
• At least 20-75 of all insect species are
  infected by Wolbachia
• Infect primarily the reproductive tissues
• Close relative to E. coli

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Tree of Life
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Wolbachia and Ant Relationship

• Not such a loving relationship
• The Relationship between Wolbachia and the Ant is
  purely parasitic.
• Wolbachia utilize the females in the species for
  their reproduction and survival and therefore it
  is beneficial to them to keep their hosts alive.
  Since they are not transferred in the male sperm
  this poses a HUGE problem for the males in the
  infected ant species.

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Effects of Wolbachia Colonization on Ants

• Transmission enhanced by a variety of mechanisms
• Cytoplasmic incompatibility
• Thelytokous parthenogenesis
• Feminization of genetic males
• Male killing
• Increased mating success of infected males via
  sperm competition

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Other species

• WASPS
• DROSOPHILAS
• MOSQUITOS
• LADY BUGS
• PILL BUGS