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Absence of complementary sex determination in two Leptopilina species (Figitidae, Hymenoptera) and a reconsideration of its incompatibility with endosymbiont-induced thelytoky.

ABSTRACT: Complementary sex determination (CSD) is a widespread sex determination mechanism in haplodiploid Hymenoptera. Under CSD, sex is determined by the allelic state of one or multiple CSD loci. Heterozygosity at one or more loci leads to female development, whereas hemizygosity of haploid eggs and homozygosity of diploid eggs results in male development. Sexual (arrhenotokous) reproduction normally yields haploid male and diploid female offspring. Under asexual reproduction (thelytoky), diploidized unfertilized eggs develop into females. Thelytoky is often induced by bacterial endosymbionts that achieve egg diploidization by gamete duplication. As gamete duplication leads to complete homozygosity, endosymbiont-induced thelytokous reproduction is presumed to be incompatible with CSD, which relies on heterozygosity for female development. Previously, we excluded CSD in four Asobara (Braconidae) species and proposed a two-step mechanism for Wolbachia-induced thelytoky in Asobara japonica. Here, we conclusively reject CSD in two cynipid wasp species, Leptopilina heterotoma and Leptopilina clavipes. We further show that thelytoky in L. clavipes depends on Wolbachia titer but that diploidization and feminization steps cannot be separated, unlike in A. japonica. We discuss what these results reveal about the sex determination mechanism of L. clavipes and the presumed incompatibility between CSD and endosymbiont-induced thelytoky in the Hymenoptera.

SUBMITTER: Chen F

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9297927 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Inbreeding and inbreeding depression are processes in small populations of particular interest for a range of human activities such as animal breeding, species conservation, or pest management. In particular, biological control programs should benefit from a thorough understanding of the causes and consequences of inbreeding because natural enemies experience repetitive bottlenecks during importation, laboratory rearing, and introduction. Predicting the effect of inbreeding in hymenopteran parasitoid wasps, frequently used in biological control programs, is nonetheless a difficult endeavor. In haplodiploid parasitoids, the purge of deleterious alleles via haploid males should reduce genetic load, but if these species also have complementary sex determination (CSD), abnormal diploid males will be produced, which may jeopardize the success of biological control introductions. Mastrus ridens is such a parasitoid wasp with CSD, introduced to control the codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.). We studied its life history traits in the laboratory under two conditions: inbred (full-sib) and outbred (nonsib) crosses, across five generations, to examine the consequences of inbreeding in this species. We found that in inbred lines, nonreproducing females live less, the number of daughters produced was lower, and sex ratio (proportion of males) and proportion of diploid males were higher. Diploid males were able to produce fertile daughters, but fewer than haploid males. Lineage survival was similar for inbred and outbred lines across the five generations. The most significant decrease in fitness was thus a consequence of the production of diploid males, but this effect was not as extreme as in most other species with CSD, due to the fertility of diploid males. This study highlights the importance of determining the type of sex determination in parasitoid wasps used for biological control, and the importance of maintaining genetic diversity in species with CSD when importation or augmentation is the goal.

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Absence of complementary sex determination in two Leptopilina species (Figitidae, Hymenoptera) and a reconsideration of its incompatibility with endosymbiont-induced thelytoky.

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