ArticlePLoS pathogens2015
Should Symbionts Be Nice or Selfish? Antiviral Effects of Wolbachia Are Costly but Reproductive Parasitism Is Not.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
53 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Meta-analysis suggests the microbiome responds to Evolve and Resequence experiments in Drosophila melanogaster.BMC microbiology · 2021Pooled it
- Temperature-sensitive cytoplasmic incompatibility across divergent Wolbachia partly reflects cifB transcription, not endosymbiont density.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Temperature-sensitive cytoplasmic incompatibility across divergentbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- A co-speciation dilemma and a lifestyle transition with genomic consequences in Wolbachia of Neotropical Drosophila.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Genomic structure and life history variation of isofemale lineages of Myzus persicae with different levels of parasitization by Diaeretiella rapae.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Counting rareMicrobiology spectrum · 2025Article
- Changes in the frequency of facultative endosymbionts in insect populations: overview and applications.Entomologia generalis · 2025Article
- Wolbachia Offers Protection Against Two Common Natural Viruses of Drosophila.Microbial ecology · 2025Article
- Development of the Incompatible Insect Technique targetingApplied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Wolbachia in Antarctic terrestrial invertebrates: Absent or undiscovered?Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Rapid host switching ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
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- A theoretical model for host-controlled regulation of symbiont density.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Article
- Wolbachia protects Drosophila melanogaster against two naturally occurring and virulent viral pathogens.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Complex effects of environment and Wolbachia infections on the life history of Drosophila melanogaster hosts.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Article
- Cross-tissue and generation predictability of relative Wolbachia densities in the mosquito Aedes aegypti.Parasites & vectors · 2022Article
- A single mutation weakens symbiont-induced reproductive manipulation through reductions in deubiquitylation efficiency.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2021Article
- Comparative Genomics Reveals Factors Associated with Phenotypic Expression of Wolbachia.Genome biology and evolution · 2021Article
- The impact of artificial selection for Wolbachia-mediated dengue virus blocking on phage WO.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Symbionts can have mutualistic effects that increase their host's fitness and/or parasitic effects that reduce it. Which of these strategies evolves depends in part on the balance of their costs and benefits to the symbiont. We have examined these questions in Wolbachia, a vertically transmitted endosymbiont of insects that can provide protection against viral infection and/or parasitically manipulate its hosts' reproduction. Across multiple symbiont strains we find that the parasitic phenotype of cytoplasmic incompatibility and antiviral protection are uncorrelated. Strong antiviral protection is associated with substantial reductions in other fitness-related traits, whereas no such trade-off was detected for cytoplasmic incompatibility. The reason for this difference is likely that antiviral protection requires high symbiont densities but cytoplasmic incompatibility does not. These results are important for the use of Wolbachia to block dengue virus transmission by mosquitoes, as natural selection to reduce these costs may lead to reduced symbiont density and the loss of antiviral protection.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.