Bugs that control sex of female spiders’ offspring by killing male embryos
January 31st, 2011 - 12:40 pm ICT by ANILondon, Jan 31 (ANI): A new study has found that female spiders are at the mercy of certain parasitic bugs that kills of their embryonic sons.
Wolbachia bacteria are transmitted through eggs, so their survival depends on how many females are born.
This evolution strategy allows the bacteria to maximise their chances of making it to the next generation.
The parasite can drive their hosts to virgin births, resulting in the spiders giving birth only to females, or males that turn into females. If neither works, they simply kill the males off.
Bram Vanthournout at Ghent University in Belgium and colleagues have found that infected female dwarf spiders produce more females than those without Wolbachia.
However, giving the spiders antibiotics restored a normal sex ratio.
“Some social spiders need very few males, so male competition is high,” New Scientist quoted Vanthournout as saying.
Wolbachia might spare females the trouble of producing males who will never mate.
The study appears in BMC Evolutionary Biology. (ANI)
- Parasites can force sex change and induce virgin births in insects - Jan 27, 2010
- New insight into parasite's reproduction paves way for new therapies - Mar 17, 2011
- Disarming bugs can combat antibiotic resistance - Apr 05, 2012
- Nutrition-starved bugs become resistant to antibiotics - Nov 18, 2011
- Microbial 'mosquito net' to aid in fight against mosquito-borne disease - Dec 25, 2009
- Male spiders prefer virginity to size - Oct 31, 2010
- Bacterium can halt dengue virus transmission - Apr 02, 2010
- A bug that nips malaria in the bud - May 13, 2011
- Gene exchange widespread among sex-manipulating bacteria - Mar 26, 2009
- 'Good' bacteria in yoghurt may end your bed bug woes - Aug 29, 2010
- The more sex partners you have, the more fertile your offspring will be - Jan 20, 2011
- How male spiders try to trick females into sex - Nov 14, 2011
- New antibiotic to treat adulterated food - Aug 07, 2011
- Gut bugs help battle invading E. coli - May 11, 2012
- 'Vampire' bug shows potential as living antibiotic - Nov 01, 2011
Tags: antibiotics, bacteria, bmc evolutionary biology, evolution strategy, female dwarf, female spiders, females, ghent university, giving birth, london jan, male competition, new scientist, next generation, normal sex, offspring, parasite, sex ratio, social spiders, university in belgium, virgin births