Effect of Infection and Adult Food on the Sexual Signaling of Males of the Mediterranean Fruit Fly .

Sexual signaling is a fundamental component of sexual behavior of that highly determines males' mating success. Nutritional status and age are dominant factors known to affect males' signaling performance and define the female decision to accept a male as a sexual partner. , a widespread endosymbiotic bacterium of insects and other arthropods, exerts several biological effects on its hosts. However, the effects of infection on the sexual behavior of medfly and the interaction between infection and adult food remain unexplored. This study was conducted to determine the effects of on sexual signaling of protein-fed and protein-deprived males. Our findings demonstrate that: (a) infection reduced male sexual signaling rates in both food regimes; (b) the negative effect of infection was more pronounced on protein-fed than protein-deprived males, and it was higher at younger ages, indicating that the bacterium regulates male sexual maturity; (c) infection alters the daily pattern of sexual signaling; and (d) protein deprivation bears significant descent on sexual signaling frequency of the uninfected males, whereas no difference was observed for the -infected males. The impact of our findings on the implementation of Incompatible Insect Technique (IIT) or the combined SIT/IIT towards controlling insect pests is discussed.