Three Wolbachia within an insect cell. They each have a white ring around them.
It ain't no halo.
Long before Count Dracula was stalking the night, knocking on the bedroom window and introducing young Victorians to the secret urges that emerge when you forget to take your hourly cold shower, there was Wolbachia.
Wolbachia is a genus of bacteria. They're as tiny and microscopic as you expect of any bacteria, but they have a certain... power. They don't infect wounds, they don't exactly cause disease and they don't kill willy-nilly. Well... not "nilly", anyway...
Wolbachia infects gonads.
I guess I should make it clear that we humans are quite safe from this devilish horror - Wolbachia has little interest in fleshy beings like us - their considerable attentions are devoted primarily to arthropods.
Arachnids, terrestrial isopods, even certain nematode worms are touched by this evil, but it's the insects that have it worst. At least 20% and perhaps as much as 70% of all insect species across the world are infected. Marine and freshwater crustaceans appear to be safe, so it seems water (holy or otherwise) is the only thing that can stop the shadow of Wolbachia from eclipsing the earth.
We need to inspect some gonads.
Wolbachia resides within the sexual organs of its host; the testes of the male, the ovaries of the female.
![]() |
Image: Seth Bordenstein An insect's testes. Sperm DNA in red, Wolbachia in green |
![]() |
Image: Seth Bordenstein Insect embryo. Chromosomes in blue, Wolbachia in bright green on the left end. |
The Gonad Lord has 4 ways of dealing with males.
The most brutally simplistic method is to kill them. As an infected male larva develops, Wolbachia slays it in its youth.
![]() |
Image: adapted from Gustavo (lu7frb) via Flickr A feminized Hoverfly, yesterday. |
Best of all, if possible, is to induce parthenogenesis. This is where Wolbachia enables females to produce offspring without requiring males at all. In a sense, this is worse of all. The male of the species is completely wiped out and need never exist again. Scientists have treated individuals of these all-female species with antibiotics, destroying her Wolbachia infection such that she produces males for the first time in unknown eons.
These strategies for making males not exist any more are great if you're into that sort of thing, but it's difficult and rare. Instead, Wolbachia's most common approach is called cytoplasmic incompatibility.
![]() |
Image: adapted from MuseumWales via Flickr Feminized fly ruins beautiful dress with brutally unshaven legs |
If the female is uninfected, or even if it's infected with a different strain of Wolbachia (a kind of rival clan), then the egg won't develop into a new adult. It's a kind of indirect way of controlling reproduction, doing whatever they can to ensure that every time new life is successfully brought into the world, Wolbachia already lurks within.
![]() |
Image: adapted from chidorian via Flickr Shadow of Wolbachia |
This relationship isn't always one-sided, either. Wolbachia can confer certain advantages to their host, making them more resistant to viruses or insecticides. At least one nematode worm has become completely dependant on its infection, with Wolbachia providing it with chemicals necessary for survival that the worm no longer provides for itself. A dark bargain indeed.
![]() |
Image: adapted from CharlesLam via Flickr I am within you And within the youness of you |
Of course, Wolbachia doesn't always have it its own way. Sometimes things don't go too well when it infects a brand new host species. Instead of quietly settling into its new domain, the Dweller of Gonads drives its prospective host insane. Specifically, the insect's immune system sets about destroying every cell that Wolbachia inhabits, which can lead to the destruction of the gonads or even the brain.
![]() |
Image: Mark Taylor Cross section of disease-causing nematode worm. Wolbachia in red. |
![]() |
Image: Seth Bordenstein Wolbachia cell packed full of viruses. |
It's as they say:
Great fleas have little fleas upon their backs to bite 'em,
And little fleas have lesser fleas, and so ad infinitum.
I just prefer them not to bite gonads...
35 comments:
Awesome! I had no idea there's such a thing that could infect and alter insects so much (it's even now more memorable and hilarious with all the fun gothic vibes in this article!). Man, I keep learning more unusual facts everytime I come here.
I was really amazed by this bacteria, too! I used to call them all "germs", and I'm still realising just how much more they do than get killed by toilet cleaners.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great information to everyone. Great job done.
IELTS Coaching in Chennai
IELTS Training in Chennai
Spoken English in Chennai
french courses in chennai
pearson vue test center in chennai
German Classes in Chennai
IELTS Coaching in Velachery
IELTS Coaching in Tambaram
Very great explanation, this is very easily understanding to me and I learn a lot of info from your post. I like more interesting posts...
Power BI Training in Chennai
Power BI Training Fees in Chennai
Embedded System Course Chennai
Linux Training in Chennai
Tableau Training in Chennai
Spark Training in Chennai
Oracle Training in Chennai
Oracle DBA Training in Chennai
Social Media Marketing Courses in Chennai
I have to appreciate you for your great work which you had done in your blog.i want you to add more like this.
JAVA Training in Chennai
JAVA Training in Tambaram
IOS Training in Chennai
Big data training in chennai
Python Training in Chennai
Selenium Training in Chennai
JAVA Training in Chennai
Java Training in Tambaram
Learned a lot from your post and it is really good. Share more tech updates regularly.
Cloud Training in Chennai
Cloud Computing Courses in Chennai
AWS Training in Chennai
AWS Certification in Chennai
DevOps Training in Chennai
Machine Learning Training in Chennai
Machine Learning course in Chennai
AWS Training in Chennai
Great job. Keep updating this article by posting new informations.
Spoken English Classes in Chennai
English Coaching Classes in Chennai
IELTS Coaching in OMR
TOEFL Coaching Centres in Chennai
french classes
pearson vue
Spoken English Classes in OMR
Spoken English Classes in Porur
Fabulous post. Irrespective of the age groups your post is liked by all. Thanks for sharing.
Spoken English Class in Chennai
IELTS Coaching Centre in Chennai
English Speaking Course in Mumbai
IELTS Classes in Mumbai
IELTS Coaching in Mumbai
IELTS Mumbai
Best IELTS Coaching in Mumbai
IELTS Center in Mumbai
Wonderful blog!!! More Useful to us... Thanks for sharing with us...
Selenium Training in Bangalore
Selenium Training in Coimbatore
Best Selenium Training Institute in Bangalore
best selenium training in coimbatore
RPA training in bangalore
Selenium Training in Bangalore
Oracle Training in Coimbatore
PHP Training in Coimbatore
Your article is very informative. Thanks for sharing the valuable information.
Data Science Course in Chennai
Data Science Courses in Bangalore
Data Science Training in Bangalore
Best Data Science Courses in Bangalore
Data Science Institute in Bangalore
Data Science Training Institutes in Bangalore
Data Science Training in BTM
AWS Training in Bangalore
DevOps Training in Bangalore
PHP Training in Bangalore
Thanks for sharing informative article with us..
DOT NET Training in Chennai
DOT NET Training Chennai
dot net course fees in chennai
.net training
dot net training in Velachery
Html5 Training in Chennai
Spring Training in Chennai
Struts Training in Chennai
Wordpress Training in Chennai
SAS Training in Chennai
This is good information and really helpful for the people who need information about this.
Aviation Academy in Chennai
Aviation Courses in Chennai
medical coding course in chennai
medical coding training institute in chennai
cpc training in chennai
cpc certification training in chennai
Air Hostess Training in Chennai
Air Hostess Training Institute in Chennai
Having read this I thought it was very enlightening. I appreciate you spending some time and energy to put this short article together studying. I once again find myself personally spending way too much time both reading and commenting. But so what, it was still worthwhile!
Digital Marketing Services in Chennai
SEO Company in Chennai
SEO Consultant Chennai
CRO in Chennai
PHP Development in Chennai
Web Designing Chennai
Ecommerce Development Chennai
Thanks a lot for sharing such a good source with all, i appreciate your efforts taken for the same. I found this worth sharing and must share this with all.
Dot Net Training in Chennai | Dot Net Training in anna nagar | Dot Net Training in omr | Dot Net Training in porur | Dot Net Training in tambaram | Dot Net Training in velachery
Red Hat Certified Engineer is a professional who has expertise in handling the Red Hat Enterprise Linux System. The Certified Engineer takes care of various tasks such as setting kernel runtime parameters, handling various types of system logging and providing certain kinds of network operability. The professionals must have the ability to install networking services and security on servers running Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Red Hat Certified Engineer
it is really a great and helpful piece of info. I am glad that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
malaysia visa online
Zooqle is broadly known as one of the most famous piece downpours destinations. You can download free games, films, applications and then some. All the more as of late, numerous nations around the globe have hindered admittance to zooqle site.
Amazing Article,Really useful information to all So, I hope you will share more information to be check and share here.thanks for sharing .
Website: Vietnam travel packages
I enjoyed over read your blog post. This was actually what i was looking for and i am glad to came here!
Website: artificial jewellery online
Awesome article, I really enjoyed reading your blog. This is truly a great read for me.
what is keyword stuffing in seo
machine learning scope
angularjs plugins
rpa software
angularjs interview questions and answers
angularjs interview questions for freshers
I’m really happy with this informative blog, thank you so much for sharing this. Ogen Infosystem infosystem is a leading Web Designing and SEO Service provider in Delhi, India.
Website Designing Company in Delhi
Mua vé rẻ tại Aivivu, tham khảo
vé máy bay đi Mỹ Vietnam Airline
vé máy bay tết 2021 pacific airlines
vé máy bay đi Canada bao nhiêu tiền
kinh nghiệm mua vé máy bay giá rẻ đi Pháp
vé máy bay đi Anh
vé máy bay rẻ
combo khách sạn đà lạt
combo nha trang 3 ngày 2 đêm 2021
xin visa trung quốc hết bao nhiêu tiền
it is really a great and helpful piece of info. I am glad that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
malaysia visa in Singapore
Excellent blog thanks for sharing the valuable information..it becomes easy to read and easily understand the information.
Useful article which was very helpful. also interesting and contains good information.
to know about python training course , use the below link.
Python Training in chennai
Python Course in chennai
I always like to read a quality content having accurate information regarding the subject and the same thing I found in this post.
Website Development Company |
Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some help from an established blog. Is it very hard to set up your own blog? I m not very technical but I can figure things out pretty quick. I'm thinking about setting up my own but I'm not sure where to begin. Do you have any tips or suggestions? Thanks .
Craigslist Posting Service for Car Dealers |
This is really amazing website that I have been found on google regarding website Blog Commenting sites. and I would like to thank admin who also given us to post the link on his side.
Lubbock moving company |
This was something I was looking for, really helpful, and great work is done. Thank you so much for sharing such valuable information.
Car Auction Software |
It’s really a cool and helpful piece of information. I am glad that you shared this useful information with us. Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Best CRM for Small Businesses |
I am really like it very much for the interesting info in this blog that to this website is providing the wonderful info in this blog that to utilize the great technology in this blog.
Web Development Company in Gwalior |
Thank you so much for giving this beautiful blog,
features of android
uipath vs blue prism
bdd framework
fundamentals of tally
scope of ethical hacking
rpa interview questions
Wonderful post and more informative!keep sharing Like this!
Linux Online Course
Linux Online Training
Post a comment