"Sex Puppeteers" Force Sex Change, Virgin Birth in Bugs via Genes
Christine Dell'Amore
National Geographic News
Published January 26, 2010
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100126-sex-puppeteers-wasps-parasites-virgin-birth-sex-changes/ (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100126-sex-puppeteers-wasps-parasites-virgin-birth-sex-changes/)
Fast-spreading parasite species force sex changes on their victims, induce virgin births, and turn animals into "gross monsters"—among other horrors.
Now a new study has decoded how the bacteria may be able to wreak their havoc: by shutting down immune systems.
The parasites, of the Wolbachia bacteria genus, cause a gene in wasps to stifle the insect's protein-based "alarms" against the bacterial invaders, say researchers who mapped the genomes of three species of Nasonia wasp for the first time.