Multiple endosymbiont infections and reproductive manipulations in a linyphiid spider population.

In many arthropods, maternally inherited endosymbiotic bacteria can increase infection frequency by manipulating host reproduction. Multiple infections of different bacteria in a single host population are common, yet few studies have documented concurrent endosymbiont phenotypes or explored their potential interactions. We hypothesized that spiders might be a particularly useful taxon for investigating endosymbiont interactions, because they are host to a plethora of endosymbiotic bacteria and frequently exhibit multiple infections. We established two matrilines from the same population of the linyphiid spider Mermessus fradeorum and then used antibiotic curing and controlled mating assays to demonstrate that each matriline was subject to a distinct endosymbiotic reproductive manipulation. One matriline was co-infected with Rickettsia and Wolbachia and produced offspring with a radical female bias. Antibiotic treatment eliminated both endosymbionts and restored an even sex ratio to subsequent generations. Chromosomal and fecundity observations suggest a feminization mechanism. In the other matriline, a separate factorial mating assay of cured and infected spiders demonstrated strong cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) induced by a different strain of Wolbachia. However, males with this Wolbachia induced only mild CI when mated with the Rickettsia-Wolbachia females. In a subsequent survey of a field population of M. fradeorum, we detected these same three endosymbionts infecting 55% of the spiders in almost all possible combinations, with nearly half of the infected spiders exhibiting multiple infection. Our results suggest that a dynamic network of endosymbionts may interact both within multiply infected hosts and within a population subject to multiple strong reproductive manipulations.

The reduction of chromosome number in meiosis is determined by properties built into the chromosomes.

In meiosis I, two chromatids move to each spindle pole. Then, in meiosis II, the two are distributed, one to each future gamete. This requires that meiosis I chromosomes attach to the spindle differently than meiosis II chromosomes and that they regulate chromosome cohesion differently. We investigated whether the information that dictates the division type of the chromosome comes from the whole cell, the spindle, or the chromosome itself. Also, we determined when chromosomes can switch from meiosis I behavior to meiosis II behavior. We used a micromanipulation needle to fuse grasshopper spermatocytes in meiosis I to spermatocytes in meiosis II, and to move chromosomes from one spindle to the other. Chromosomes placed on spindles of a different meiotic division always behaved as they would have on their native spindle; e.g., a meiosis I chromosome attached to a meiosis II spindle in its normal fashion and sister chromatids moved together to the same spindle pole. We also showed that meiosis I chromosomes become competent meiosis II chromosomes in anaphase of meiosis I, but not before. The patterns for attachment to the spindle and regulation of cohesion are built into the chromosome itself. These results suggest that regulation of chromosome cohesion may be linked to differences in the arrangement of kinetochores in the two meiotic divisions.

Mitosis in vertebrate somatic cells with two spindles: implications for the metaphase/anaphase transition checkpoint and cleavage.

During mitosis an inhibitory activity associated with unattached kinetochores prevents PtK1 cells from entering anaphase until all kinetochores become attached to the spindle. To gain a better understanding of how unattached kinetochores block the metaphase/anaphase transition we followed mitosis in PtK1 cells containing two independent spindles in a common cytoplasm. We found that unattached kinetochores on one spindle did not block anaphase onset in a neighboring mature metaphase spindle 20 microm away that lacked unattached kinetochores. As in cells containing a single spindle, anaphase onset occurred in the mature spindles x = 24 min after the last kinetochore attached regardless of whether the adjacent immature spindle contained one or more unattached kinetochores. These findings reveal that the inhibitory activity associated with an unattached kinetochore is functionally limited to the vicinity of the spindle containing the unattached kinetochore. We also found that once a mature spindle entered anaphase the neighboring spindle also entered anaphase x = 9 min later regardless of whether it contained monooriented chromosomes. Thus, anaphase onset in the mature spindle catalyzes a "start anaphase" reaction that spreads globally throughout the cytoplasm and overrides the inhibitory signal produced by unattached kinetochores in an adjacent spindle. Finally, we found that cleavage furrows often formed between the two independent spindles. This reveals that the presence of chromosomes and/or a spindle between two centrosomes is not a prerequisite for cleavage in vertebrate somatic cells.