Wolbachia ‐induced expression of kenny gene in testes affects male fertility in Drosophila melanogaster

AbstractWolbachia are Gram ‐negative endosymbionts that are known to cause embryonic lethality when infected male insects mate with uninfected females or with females carrying a different strain ofWolbachia, a situation characterized as cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). However, the mechanism of CI is not yet fully understood, although recent studies onDrosophila melanogaster have achieved great progress. Here, we found thatWolbachia infection caused changes in the expressions of several immunity ‐related genes, including significant upregulation ofkenny (key), in the testes ofD. melanogaster. Overexpression ofkey in fly testes led to a significant decrease in egg hatch rates when these flies mate with wild ‐type females.Wolbachia‐infected females could rescue this embryonic lethality. Furthermore, inkey overexpressing testes terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase ‐mediated dUTP‐biotin nick‐end labeling signal was significantly stronger than in the control testes, and the level of reactive oxygen species was significantly increased. Overexpression ofkey also resulted in alterations of some other immunity ‐related gene expressions, including the downregulation ofZn72D. Knockdown ofZn72D in fly testes also led to a significant decrease in egg hatch rates. These results suggest thatWolbachia might induce the defect in male host fertility by immunity ‐related pathways and thus cause an oxidative damage and cell death in male testes.
Source: Insect Science - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research