Uncovering the Dynamics of Wolbachia-associated Plastic Recombination in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Wolbachia pipientis is an endosymbiotic bacterium that infects 40%-60% of arthropod species and manipulates the reproduction and fitness of its host. Wolbachia also infects the model fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, in a symbiotic host-microbe relationship. Recently, Wolbachia infection was shown to induce plastic recombination in D. melanogaster, but the dynamics of this phenomenon are unknown. In my dissertation work, I investigated how microbe and host affect this phenomenon, in addition to illuminating where this phenomenon occurs across the genome. In Chapter I, I tested the effect of Wolbachia titer on recombination rate and found that bacterial titer did not affect the magnitude of recombination rate increase in Wolbachia-associated recombination. In Chapter II, I examined the effect of Wolbachia infection on transposable element expression in D. melanogaster and compared the effect of Wolbachia to other types of infections. Together, these findings provide a crucial foundation for future work investigating the mechanisms of Wolbachia-associated plastic recombination.This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material.