Drosophila testes with Wolbachia (IMAGE)

Penn State

Drosophila testes with Wolbachia

Caption

A new study led by researchers at Penn State has uncovered how a widespread bacteria called Wolbachia and a virus that it carries can cause sterility in male insects by hijacking their sperm messenger molecules—tagged with red fluorescence in this image of Drosophila testes. This prevents the insects from fertilizing eggs of females that do not have the same combination of bacteria and virus. These findings could improve techniques to control populations of agricultural pests and insects that carry diseases like Zika and dengue to humans.

Credit

Rupinder Kaur/Penn State

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