Wolbachia pipientis Modulates Germline Stem Cells and Gene Expression Associated with Ubiquitination and Histone Lysine Trimethylation to Rescue Fertility Defects in Drosophila.

Wolbachia pipientis are maternally transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria commonly found in arthropods and nematodes. These bacteria manipulate reproduction of the host to increase their transmission using mechanisms, such as cytoplasmic incompatibility, that favor infected female offspring. The underlying mechanisms of reproductive manipulation by W.

Functional Divergence of the bag-of-marbles Gene in the Drosophila melanogaster Species Group.

In Drosophila melanogaster, a key germline stem cell (GSC) differentiation factor, bag of marbles (bam) shows rapid bursts of amino acid fixations between sibling species D. melanogaster and Drosophila simulans, but not in the outgroup species Drosophila ananassae. Here, we test the null hypothesis that bam's differentiation function is conserved between D.

Diverse wMel variants of Wolbachia pipientis differentially rescue fertility and cytological defects of the bag of marbles partial loss of function mutation in Drosophila melanogaster.

In Drosophila melanogaster, the maternally inherited endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis interacts with germline stem cell genes during oogenesis. One such gene, bag of marbles (bam) is the key switch for differentiation and also shows signals of adaptive evolution for protein diversification. These observations have led us to hypothesize that W.

The Drosophila bag of marbles Gene Interacts Genetically with Wolbachia and Shows Female-Specific Effects of Divergence.

Many reproductive proteins from diverse taxa evolve rapidly and adaptively. These proteins are typically involved in late stages of reproduction such as sperm development and fertilization, and are more often functional in males than females. Surprisingly, many germline stem cell (GSC) regulatory genes, which are essential for the earliest stages of reproduction, also evolve adaptively in Drosophila.

Population Genomics of Infectious and Integrated Wolbachia pipientis Genomes in Drosophila ananassae.

Coevolution between Drosophila and its endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis has many intriguing aspects. For example, Drosophila ananassae hosts two forms of W. pipientis genomes: One being the infectious bacterial genome and the other integrated into the host nuclear genome.