There are more insects on the planet than any other form of life. We are reminded of that fact as summertime approaches and bugs like fruit flies and mosquitoes invade our homes and yards. But these pesky insects aren’t just a nuisance. They can offer us a wide range of insightful and potentially life-changing information – if you know where to look.
“Insects rule this planet. Malaria, dengue, Zika viruses, they are all delivered by insects and kill millions of children and adults every year. The control of these insect pests is all dependent on our ability to understand their physiology and biochemistry and how that might be helpful,” said Timothy Karr, manager of Arizona State University’s Mass Spectrometry Facility and a research associate professor in the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center, in a press release.
Thankfully, Karr and his team knew where to look, starting with the strange way a common type of bacteria functions in fruit flies. Wolbachia is a parasitic bacteria living inside the cells of insects that may hold the key to fighting back against mosquito-borne disease and managing crop pests. They've published their results in Cell Reports.
Read More: Genetically Modified Mosquitoes May Protect The World From Disease
Frisky Fruit Flies
Wolbachia has the single goal of spreading to as many hosts as possible. However, it can only be passed on by female insects, as an infected mother spreads it to her offspring. To ensure peak effectiveness, the bacteria also influence infected females to lay tons of infected eggs.
Although the Wolbachia bacteria infect at least two out of every five insect species, they behave very curiously and uniquely within female fruit flies. Male fruit flies are unable to fertilize uninfected eggs, which is a common occurrence for other Wolbachia-infected insects. The females, however, show a different effect – an increased level of friskiness.
Female fruit flies infected with the bacteria become more interested in mating in the hopes of laying as many eggs as possible. Their drive to reproduce becomes so strong that they are even willing to mate with other species and lay hybrid eggs.
Bacteria On The Brain
The research team set out to investigate this unique behavior in infected female fruit flies and learn how we might use Wolbachia bacteria to our advantage.
In the study, researchers found the Wolbachia bacteria present in the regions of the brain responsible for functions like decision-making. To learn more about the effects of the bacteria in the brain, they focused on comparing proteins in the brains of infected and uninfected female fruit flies. This is the first time a comparison of this kind has been done.
They found clear differences in the brains of the infected fruit flies. In the infected brains, there were over 170 proteins changed. Additionally, the team identified over 700 Wolbachia proteins in the female fruit flies’ brains.
One of the explanations for why this bacterium may have survived centuries of insect evolution is tied to amino acids. Like humans, fruit flies cannot make the essential amino acids that their bodies require. Wolbachia can make them and appear to be creating these nutrients in its hosts. Fruit flies infected with Wolbachia likely have an advantage over others who struggle to find nutrients elsewhere.
Stopping Insect-Borne Diseases
Wolbachia bacteria not only show significant changes in fruit flies but in mosquitoes, too. Previous research has shown that Wolbachia can stop the growth of viruses like Zika and dengue in mosquitoes.
Scientists have been trying to use bacteria, like Wolbachia, to control these deadly diseases and reduce mosquito populations worldwide. However, they haven’t had much success.
“In my opinion, the most prominent reason [for the lack of success] is that we don’t understand the molecular basis for any of these potential solutions,” said Karr in the press release. “We’re just beginning to make headway. To cure any disease, to perfect any technique in biology, you need to know who the players are, and you need to know how they work.”
The research team’s work on infected fruit flies is helping to clarify this picture. By understanding how the proteins in Wolbachia bacteria interact with host proteins, scientists can improve their strategies and hopefully make strides in reducing the population of disease-carrying and crop-killing insects.
Read More: Dengue Fever Is on the Rise — a Ticking Time Bomb in Many Places Around the World
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
Cell Reports. Wolbachia-mediated reduction in the glutamate receptor mGluR promotes female promiscuity and bacterial spread
As the marketing coordinator at Discover Magazine, Stephanie Edwards interacts with readers across Discover's social media channels and writes digital content. Offline, she is a contract lecturer in English & Cultural Studies at Lakehead University, teaching courses on everything from professional communication to Taylor Swift, and received her graduate degrees in the same department from McMaster University. You can find more of her science writing in Lab Manager and her short fiction in anthologies and literary magazine across the horror genre.
