ArticleNature2017
Prophage WO genes recapitulate and enhance Wolbachia-induced cytoplasmic incompatibility.
Article in Nature, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 296 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
296 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Meta-Analysis ofG3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2020Pooled it
- Wolbachia strain wLhui induces temperature-dependent incomplete cytoplasmic incompatibility in the invasive pest Liriomyza huidobrensis with biocontrol potential.Pest management science · 2026Article
- Phenotypic divergence is driven by mobile genetic elements in a heritable insect symbiont.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Genomic islands in Wolbachia prophages drive amplification and diversification of cytoplasmic incompatibility genes in Culex pipiens.Genetics · 2026Article
- Calibrating and documenting host-switching and evolution of incompatibility loci for two closely related Wolbachia clades.Genetics · 2026Article
- Temperature-sensitive cytoplasmic incompatibility across divergent Wolbachia partly reflects cifB transcription, not endosymbiont density.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Analysis of the genomes of a male-killingMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Article
- Climate predictsbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Three decades of analyzing Wolbachia bacterial endosymbionts in arthropods: Trends and gaps.Parasitology research · 2026Review
- Identification of twomBio · 2026Article
- Wolbachia-induced Cytoplasmic Incompatibility drives epigenetic and maternally-influenced post-embryonic defects.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Article
- Spiroplasma Display an Intricate Continuum of Infection Heterogeneity and Persistence in Myrmica Ants.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- The genome and stage-specific transcriptomes of the carrot weevil, Listronotus oregonensis, reveal adaptive mechanisms for host specialisation and symbiotic interactions.Insect molecular biology · 2026Article
- Temperature-sensitive cytoplasmic incompatibility across divergentbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Counting cytoplasmic incompatibility factor mRNA using digital droplet PCR.Microbiology spectrum · 2026Article
- Extensive mobilome dynamics in a widespread endosymbiont: long read metagenomics reveal dimeric plasmids and highly fragmented prophages in Wolbachia from Culex pipiens.Research square · 2026Article
- Calibrating and documenting host-switching and evolution of incompatibility loci for two closely relatedbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
236 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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10 authors.
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Abstract
The genus Wolbachia is an archetype of maternally inherited intracellular bacteria that infect the germline of numerous invertebrate species worldwide. They can selfishly alter arthropod sex ratios and reproductive strategies to increase the proportion of the infected matriline in the population. The most common reproductive manipulation is cytoplasmic incompatibility, which results in embryonic lethality in crosses between infected males and uninfected females. Females infected with the same Wolbachia strain rescue this lethality. Despite more than 40 years of research and relevance to symbiont-induced speciation, as well as control of arbovirus vectors and agricultural pests, the bacterial genes underlying cytoplasmic incompatibility remain unknown. Here we use comparative and transgenic approaches to demonstrate that two differentially transcribed, co-diverging genes in the eukaryotic association module of prophage WO from Wolbachia strain wMel recapitulate and enhance cytoplasmic incompatibility. Dual expression in transgenic, uninfected males of Drosophila melanogaster crossed to uninfected females causes embryonic lethality. Each gene additively augments embryonic lethality in crosses between infected males and uninfected females. Lethality associates with embryonic defects that parallel those of wild-type cytoplasmic incompatibility and is notably rescued by wMel-infected embryos in all cases. The discovery of cytoplasmic incompatibility factor genes cifA and cifB pioneers genetic studies of prophage WO-induced reproductive manipulations and informs the continuing use of Wolbachia to control dengue and Zika virus transmission to humans.
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