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>>/6244/ > how the fuck does this work? eggsplain Dr. Alice! Good topic! Wolbachia interferes with the reproduction of host organisms in very complex ways. Basically the bacterium fucks up cell division in sperm which causes the embryo to die if infected sperm fertilizes an uninfected egg. However if both sperm and egg are infected, the bacteria in the eggs alter them in a way that synchronized their cell division to be compatible with infected sperm again and the embryo develops normally. How exactly this works is still unknown. Yes, it's pretty nuts. You can read about cytoplasmatic incompatibility here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytoplasmic_incompatibility The fancy thing is that Wolbachia does a number of things: It inhibits virus replication inside the mosquito so they carry less viruses Also an infection often reduces the lifespan of mosquitoes which gives them less time to spread diseases. It can also lead to producing male offspring only, killing the blood-sucking females. But that's very very complicated stuff and not so straightforward as the fancy posters suggest. Wolbachia-infection can very well also boost pathogen transmission depending on strain. Host is also very skeptical this has long-term benefits. Mosquitoes and their pathogens will adapt quickly.