The whitefly is a major agrarian pest , and over the last six year Southwest of America has seen the near total contagion of the species by a symbiotic bacteria , whichmakes them superintendent - breeder . The bacterium Rickettsia bellii was to begin with spotted in just a few specimens in 2000 , but by 2006 was in 97 % of the bugs . How did it diffuse so wide , so tight ? The bacteria supercharged the the infected insects , and those carrying the symbiont had more young , developed faster , and were more likely to survive than the clean . The symbiont is passed on through the mothers and pluck the infected to have a higher percentage of female materialisation .
This is one of the few times a symbiotic invasion of a host species has been observed . The research present just how tight it can happen , and how much it can commute both the biological science and behavior of an being .
And of course , it gives us musical theme about what form of genetically - modified bacterium mad scientist should be free into the water provision to create an army of sex striver .
BacteriaBiologyEvolutionScienceSymbiote
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