BACKGROUNDWolbachia are widespread intracellular bacteria in insects that often have high rates of spread due to their impact on insect reproduction. These bacteria may also affect the mating behavior of their host with impacts on the fitness of host progeny. In this study, we investigated the impact of Wolbachia on a preference for mating with young or old males in the parasitoid wasp Habrobracon hebetor.RESULTSOur results showed that uninfected females from a tetracycline‐treated line preferred to mate with young males, whereas Wolbachia‐infected females had no preference. Time to mating was relatively shorter in the infected lines. Regardless of Wolbachia infection status, progeny resulting from matings with young males showed higher fitness than those from crosses with old males, and infected females crossed with infected young males showed the highest performance.CONCLUSIONThese results suggest an impact of Wolbachia on female mate preference and offspring fitness although it is unclear how this phenomenon increases Wolbachia transmission of infected wasps. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

中文翻译：

---

沃尔巴克氏体影响寄生蜂的雌性交配偏好和后代健康


背景沃尔巴克氏体是昆虫中广泛分布的细胞内细菌，由于其对昆虫繁殖的影响而常常具有高传播率。这些细菌还可能影响宿主的交配行为，从而影响宿主后代的健康状况。在这项研究中，我们研究了沃尔巴克氏体对寄生蜂 Habrobracon hebetor 偏好与年轻或年老雄性交配的影响。结果我们的结果表明，来自四环素处理品系的未感染雌性更喜欢与年轻雄性交配，而感染沃尔巴克氏体的雌性更喜欢与年轻雄性交配。女性没有偏好。受感染品系的交配时间相对较短。无论沃尔巴克氏体感染状况如何，与年轻雄性交配产生的后代比与年老雄性杂交产生的后代表现出更高的适应性，并且受感染的雌性与受感染的年轻雄性杂交表现出最高的性能。结论这些结果表明沃尔巴克氏体对雌性交配偏好和后代的影响尽管尚不清楚这种现象如何增加沃尔巴克氏体对受感染黄蜂的传播。 © 2024 化学工业协会。