Department of Agroecology and Biometeorology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences, Prague, Suchdol, Czech Republic.
PLoS One. 2011;6(9):e24628. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024628. Epub 2011 Sep 8.
Parasites and parasitoids control behaviors of their hosts. However, the origin of the behavior evoked by the parasitic organism has been rarely identified. It is also not known whether the manipulation is universal or host-specific. Polysphinctine wasps, koinobiont ectoparasitoids of several spider species that manipulate host web-spinning activity for their own protection during pupation, provide an ideal system to reveal the origin of the evoked behavior. Larva of Zatypota percontatoria performed species-specific manipulation of theridiid spiders, Neottiura bimaculata and Theridion varians, shortly before pupation. Parasitized N. bimaculata produced a dense web, whereas parasitized T. varians built a cupola-like structure. The larva pupated inside of either the dense web or the cupola-like structure. We discovered that unparasitized N. bimaculata produce an analogous dense web around their eggsacs and for themselves during winter, while T. varians construct an analogous 'cupola' only for overwintering. We induced analogous manipulation in unparasitized hosts by altering ambient conditions. We discovered that the behavior evoked by larvae in two hosts was functionally similar. The larva evoked protective behaviors that occur in unparasitized hosts only during specific life-history periods.
寄生虫和寄生蜂控制宿主的行为。然而，由寄生生物引发的行为的起源很少被识别。也不知道这种操纵是普遍的还是针对宿主的。多刺蜂是几种蜘蛛的共生外寄生蜂，它们在化蛹期间为了自身保护而操纵宿主的织网活动，为揭示所引发行为的起源提供了一个理想的系统。Zatypota percontatoria 的幼虫在即将化蛹前对 theridiid 蜘蛛 Neottiura bimaculata 和 Theridion varians 进行了特定物种的操纵。被寄生的 N. bimaculata 产生了密集的网，而被寄生的 T. varians 则构建了一个穹顶状的结构。幼虫在密集的网或穹顶状结构内化蛹。我们发现，未被寄生的 N. bimaculata 在冬季会在卵囊周围和自身周围产生类似的密集网，而 T. varians 只为越冬而建造类似的“穹顶”。我们通过改变环境条件在未被寄生的宿主中诱导类似的操纵。我们发现，幼虫在两个宿主中引发的行为在功能上是相似的。幼虫引发了仅在特定生命周期阶段发生在未被寄生宿主中的保护行为。
