Community-wide analysis of horizontal symbiont transmission: oak gallwasps as a model system.

许多昆虫被微生物感染，包括沃尔巴克氏菌和红毛菌，这些细菌从母亲传给后代。这些细菌对携带它们的昆虫的繁殖有一系列影响，其中一些影响是严重的。其中一些细菌被认为是控制害虫的一种手段。然而，为了计划使用这些方法，我们需要知道所涉及的细菌是否可以从一个昆虫“跳跃”（一个称为水平传播的过程）到另一个昆虫。这是必然的，因为非常相似的细菌通常存在于非常不同的昆虫中，但人们对它是如何发生的却知之甚少。这个项目将研究一组密切互动的昆虫物种，它们栖息在橡树上一系列不同的瘿上。这些群落由一组特定的猎物物种（制造瘿的黄蜂）和其他以它们为食的物种（主要是寄生蜂）组成。该项目将评估这两个群体交换细菌的程度，并测试几种关于哪种类型的相互作用更有可能导致传播的假设。

Many insects are infected by microorganisms, including bacteria called Wolbachia and Cardinium, that are passed from a mother to its offspring. These bacteria have a range of effects on the reproduction of their insect carriers, some of which are severe. Some of these bacteria have been proposed as a means by which harmful insects could be controlled. However, to plan for use of such approaches, we need to know if the bacteria involved can 'jump' (a process termed horizontal transmission) from one insect to another. This must happen, because very similar bacteria are commonly found in very different insects, but how it happens remains little understood. This project will look at a closely interacting set of insect species that inhabit a range of different galls on oaks. These communities consist of a specific set of prey species (the wasps that make the galls), and others that feed on them (primarily parasitic wasps). The project will assess the extent to which these two groups have exchanged bacteria, and test several hypotheses about which type of interaction are more likely to result in transmission.