Male killing caused by a Spiroplasma symbiont in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus.

ABSTRACT

Spiroplasma-mediated late male killing was found in the small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus. Female-biased colonies (maternal lines, N = 4) were established from planthoppers collected in Taiwan and Japan. This sex ratio distortion was maternally inherited (sex ratio of total number of progenies [femalemale] 4880 in F1, 1987 in F2, 4070 in F3; likelihood ratio test of all generations, P < 0.0001) and caused by male death during nymphal stages. The female-biased colonies were doubly infected with Spiroplasma and Wolbachia, and the non-biased colonies were infected solely with Wolbachia. Antibiotic treatment resulted in a normal sex ratio, strongly suggesting that bacteria are manipulating host reproduction. Spiroplasma-singly-infected planthopper colonies created by the antibiotic treatment produced progeny with strongly female-biased sex ratios (1812; likelihood ratio test, χ(2) = 231.6, P < 0.0001). This is the first report of Spiroplasma-mediated male killing in hemimetabolous insects.