Author(s)

Thais de França Patarro, Hermione E. M. de Campos Bicudo^*

Departamento de Biologia, Instituto de Biociências Letras e Ciências Exatas (Ibilce), Campus São José do Rio Preto, Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp), São José do Rio Preto, Brasil.

Interspecific hybrids and constructed research models have provided infor-mation on intracellular interactions. We used two introgressed, chromosomally differentiated strains (H4 and H2) derived from F1 hybrids of crosses between D. prosaltans females and D. saltans males. In H4, the D. prosaltans chromosomes were eliminated. In H2, a mixture was maintained, preserving the entire genome of D. prosaltans (except the Y chromosome) and parts of the D. saltans genome. The IIR arm and a segment of chromosome III were eliminated. A third strain, used for comparison, was a normal D. prosaltans strain (P). This study aimed primarily to analyze the effect on the reproductive char-acteristics productivity (number of progeny) and sex-ratio caused by Wolbachia infection in interaction with different chromosome constitutions. For this, infected and uninfected flies were used in intrastrain cross combinations. Firstly, we analyzed the productivity of intracrosses of uninfected parents, in each strain, in order to detect the effects of intracellular interactions, in flies carrying different chromosome constitutions and sharing a Wolbach-ia-free, D. prosaltans cytoplasm. Data indicated that the chromosome parts that were eliminated, in H2, carry the isolating genes that impair productivity in hybrids of the two species, and suggested the occurrence of a nuclear/nuclear interaction. The analysis of Wolbachia-infected flies showed that the three strains presented different responses, depending on the chromosome constitution. As to productivity, the infection was harmful in P strain, in H2 behaved as mutualistic, and, in H4, produced the effect cytoplasmic incompatibility. As to sex-ratio, intracrosses showed significant differences in P and H4 strains. These results, associated with the cytological characteristics of the strains, pointed to the fundamental importance of host chromosome constitution to define the interactive process host/Wolbachia, and showed the flexibility of the endo-symbiont manifested in different forms of self-preservation.

Isolating Genes, Harmful Interaction, Mutualistic Interaction, Cytoplasmic Incompatibility of Wolbachia

Patarro, T. and Bicudo, H. (2019) Intracellular Interactions in the Reproduction Control of Introgressed Strains Involving Species from Drosophila saltans Group (Sophophora Subgenus) with Emphasis to the Effect of Wolbachia Infection. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 9, 324-340. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2019.93027.