Publications

feminizing wolbachia in zyginidia pullula (insecta, hemiptera), a leafhopper with an xx/x0 sex-determination system.	zyginidia pullula is a grass-dwelling leafhopper characterized by a bisexual reproduction mode. in this species, some females collected in northern italy, when mated with males, gave origin to an exclusively female brood. here, we demonstrated that in these lineages an infection by a new strain of wolbachia pipientis-designated as wzygpul-was detected by amplifying and sequencing the wsp and 16s rrna genes. about half of the female progeny were characterized by intersexual phenotypes, i.e. showi ...	2006	16928646
unravelling the wolbachia evolutionary role: the reprogramming of the host genomic imprinting.	environmental factors can induce significant epigenetic changes that may also be inherited by future generations. the maternally inherited symbiont of arthropods wolbachia pipientis is an excellent candidate as an 'environmental' factor promoting trans-generational epigenetic changes: by establishing intimate relationships with germ-line cells, epigenetic effects of wolbachia symbiosis would be manifested as a 'maternal effect', in which infection of the mother modulates the offspring phenotype. ...	2009	19364731