Data from: Tropical Drosophila pandora carry Wolbachia infections causing cytoplasmic incompatibility or male killing

Wolbachia infections have been described in several Drosophila species,
but relatively few have been assessed for phenotypic effects. Cytoplasmic
incompatibility (CI) is the most common phenotypic effect that has been
detected, while some infections cause male killing or feminization, and
many Wolbachia infections have few host effects. Here, we describe two new
infections in a recently described species, Drosophila pandora, one of
which causes near-complete CI and near-perfect maternal transmission (the
“CI” strain). The other infection is a male killer (the “MK” strain),
which we confirm by observing reinitiation of male production following
tetracycline treatment. No incompatibility was detected in crosses between
CI strain males and MK strain females, and rare MK males do not cause CI.
Molecular analyses indicate that the CI and MK infections are distantly
related and the CI infection is closely related to the wRi infection of
Drosophila simulans. Two population surveys indicate that all individuals
are infected with Wolbachia, but the MK infection is uncommon. Given
patterns of incompatibility among the strains, the infection dynamics is
expected to be governed by the relative fitness of the females, suggesting
that the CI infection should have a higher fitness. This was evidenced by
changes in infection frequencies and sex ratios in population cages
initiated at different starting frequencies of the infections.