Data from: The impacts of Wolbachia and the microbiome on mate choice in Drosophila melanogaster

Symbionts and parasites can manipulate their hosts’ reproduction to their own benefit, profoundly influencing patterns of mate choice and evolution of the host population. Wolbachia is one of the most widespread symbionts among arthropods, and one that alters its hosts’ reproduction in diverse and dramatic ways. While we are beginning to appreciate how Wolbachia's extreme manipulations of host reproduction can influence species diversification and reproductive isolation, we understand little about how symbionts and Wolbachia, in particular, may affect intrapopulation processes of mate choice. We hypothesized that the maternally transmitted Wolbachia would increase the attractiveness of its female hosts to further its own spread. We therefore tested the effects of Wolbachia removal and microbiome disruption on female attractiveness and male mate choice among ten isofemale lines of Drosophila melanogaster. We found variable effects of general microbiome disruption on female attractiveness, with indications that bacteria interact with hosts in a line-specific manner to affect female attractiveness. However, we found no evidence that Wolbachia influence female attractiveness or male mate choice among these lines. Although the endosymbiont Wolbachia can greatly alter the reproduction of their hosts in many species, there is no indication that they alter mate choice behaviours in D. melanogaster.

共生生物与寄生虫可通过操控宿主的生殖过程以谋取自身生存优势，进而深刻影响宿主种群的配偶选择模式与演化进程。沃尔巴克氏体（Wolbachia）是节肢动物中分布最广泛的共生生物之一，且能以多样且显著的方式调控宿主的生殖过程。尽管学界已逐渐明晰沃尔巴克氏体对宿主生殖的极端调控如何影响物种分化与生殖隔离，但对于共生生物（尤其是沃尔巴克氏体）如何影响种群内部的配偶选择过程，我们仍所知甚少。我们提出假说：通过母系传播的沃尔巴克氏体可提升宿主雌性的吸引力，以促进自身的传播扩散。为此，我们针对10个黑腹果蝇（Drosophila melanogaster）单雌系，检验了沃尔巴克氏体清除与微生物组扰动对雌性吸引力及雄性配偶选择的影响。我们发现，一般性微生物组扰动对雌性吸引力的影响存在品系间差异，且有迹象表明细菌与宿主以品系特异性的方式相互作用，进而调控雌性吸引力。然而，在这些品系中，我们未发现任何证据表明沃尔巴克氏体会影响雌性吸引力或雄性配偶选择。尽管内共生生物沃尔巴克氏体在诸多物种中均可显著改变宿主的生殖过程，但尚无迹象表明其会影响黑腹果蝇的配偶选择行为。