Speciation: Hosts part company

Wolbachia are endosymbiotic bacteria that are maternally inherited — in the cytoplasm — in many arthropod and nematode hosts. They cause dramatic alterations in the reproduction of their hosts, including cytoplasmic incompatibility which results in only infected females producing fertile offspring with infected males. Bordenstein et al. have studied two closely related parasitic wasp species that act as Wolbachia hosts, and find that the cytoplasmic incompatibility caused by these bacteria is the sole source of reproductive isolation between the species, implicating Wolbachia in the early stages of speciation.

Wolbachia-induced incompatibility precedes other hybrid incompatibilities in Nasonia
SETH R. BORDENSTEIN, F. PATRICK O'HARA, JOHN H. WERREN
Nature 409, 707-710 (8 February 2001)
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Evolution: Infectious speciation
MICHAEL J. WADE
The bacterium Wolbachia has strange and wonderful effects on reproduction in its many invertebrate host species. In effect, the creation of new species can now be added to the list.
Nature 409, 675-677 (8 February 2001)
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8 February 2001 table of contents