Publication Type
Journal Article
Journal Name
Insects
Publication Date
6-12-2013
Abstract
Fly-to-fly transmission of conidia of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae and the effect of fungal infection on the reproductive potential of females surviving infection were investigated in three fruit fly species, Ceratitis cosyra, C. fasciventris, and C. capitata. The number of conidia picked up by a single fruit fly was determined in C. cosyra. The initial uptake (Day 0) of conidia by a single fly was approx. 1.1 × 106 conidia after exposure to the treated substrate. However, the number of conidia dropped from 7.2 × 105 to 4.1 × 105 conidia after 2 and 8 h post-exposure, respectively. The number of conidia picked up by a single fungus-treated fly (donor) varied between 3.8 × 105 and 1.0 × 106 in the three fruit fly species, resulting in 100% mortality 5-6 days post-exposure. When fungus-free flies of both sexes (recipient flies) were allowed to mate with donor flies, the number of conidia picked up by a single fly varied between 1.0 × 105 and 2.5 × 105, resulting in a mortality of 83-100% in C. capitata, 72-85% in C cosyra and 71-93% in C fasciventris 10-15 days post-inoculation There was an effect of fungal infection on female egg laying in the three species of fruit flies as control flies laid more eggs than fungus-treated females. The percentage reduction in fecundity in flies infected with M. anisopliae was 82, 73 and 37% in C. capitata, C. fasciventris and C. cosyra, respectively. The results are discussed with regard to application in autodissemination techniques. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
C. cosyra, C. fasciventris, Ceratitis capitata, Egg laying, Fertility, Fruit fly, Fungal infection, Horizontal transmission, Metarhizium anisopliae
Recommended Citation
Dimbi, S., Maniania, N., & Ekesi, S. (2013). Horizontal transmission of Metarhizium anisopliae in fruit flies and effect of fungal infection on egg laying and fertility. Insects, 4 (2), 206-216. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects4020206
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.