AI Summary
This article discusses how a bacteria called Wolbachia and a virus it carries can cause sterility in male insects by manipulating their sperm, preventing fertilization of eggs. Understanding this process could lead to more effective techniques to control agricultural pests and disease-carrying insects like Zika and dengue vectors.
A widespread bacteria called Wolbachia and a virus that it carries can cause sterility in male insects by hijacking their sperm, preventing them from fertilizing eggs of females that do not have the same combination of bacteria and virus. A new study has uncovered how this microbial combination manipulates sperm, which could lead to refined techniques to control populations of agricultural pests and insects that carry diseases like Zika and dengue to humans.