Data from: Wolbachia infection associated with increased recombination in Drosophila

Wolbachia is a maternally-transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria that infects
a large diversity of arthropod and nematode hosts. Some strains of
Wolbachia are parasitic, manipulating host reproduction to benefit
themselves, while other strains of Wolbachia exhibit obligate or
facultative mutualisms with their host. The effects of Wolbachia on its
host are many, though primarily relate to host immune and reproductive
function. Here we test the hypothesis that Wolbachia infection alters the
frequency of homologous recombination during meiosis. We use D.
melanogaster as a model system, and survey recombination in eight
wild-derived Wolbachia-infected (strain wMel) and Wolbachia-uninfected
strains, controlling for genotype. We measure recombination in two
intervals of the genome. Our results indicate that Wolbachia infection is
associated with increased recombination in one genomic interval and not
the other. The effect of Wolbachia infection on recombination is thus
heterogenous across the genome. Our data also indicate a reproductive
benefit of Wolbachia infection; infected females show higher fecundity
than their uninfected genotypic controls. Given the prevalence of
Wolbachia infection in natural populations, our findings suggest that
Wolbachia infection is likely to contribute to recombination rate and
fecundity variation among individuals in nature.