Dependence of egg hatching on Wolbachia density in a parthenogenetic weevil revealed by antibiotic treatment

M.S. RODRIGUERO; SCANNAPIECO, A.; DANIELA S. MONTI; CHIFFLET LUCILA; ELÍAS COSTA AGUSTÍN J.,; LANTERI, A.; V.A. CONFALONIERI

ENTOMOLOGIA EXPERIMENTALIS ET APPLICATA

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2021

0013-8703

Naupactiniis a tribe of Neotropical broad-nosed weevils highly diverse in South America.This group includes several parthenogenetic species, some of them harmful for agricultureand invasive around the world. Although some hypotheses based on polyploidy andhybridization have been proposed to explain the origin of parthenogenesis inweevils, the infection with the bacterium Wolbachia pipientis may be involvedin the origin of parthenogenetic reproduction of some species. In thiscontribution, we studied the role of Wolbachia in the reproductive biology ofPantomorus postfasciatus Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) through a curingexperiment using tetracycline. This weevil has amixed mode of reproductionincluding sexual and parthenogenetic populations. Exposure to an antibiotic didnot affect fecundity, but did reduce egg hatching in comparison with untreatedindividuals. Consequently, we inferred that Wolbachia most probably takes partin the reproduction of P. postfasciatus, either by exerting nutritive functionsin oogenesis necessary for egg hatching, or by induction of thelytokousparthenogenesis. Although infection was not totally cured, Wolbachia load wassignificantly lower in treated than in control females. Thereby, we hypothesizethat a minimum threshold density ofWolbachia is required for weevilreproduction.We conclude that all analyses support a role of Wolbachia in P.postfasciatus reproduction.