Wolbachia are the most successful intracellular bacteria in arthropods. They can manipulate host reproduction to favour infected females, which transmit Wolbachia to their progeny and increase the presence of Wolbachia in the population. The reproductive alterations caused by Wolbachia include feminization, parthenogenesis, male killing and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI), among which CI is the most common. CI leads to embryonic lethality when Wolbachia-infected males mate with uninfected females or those infected with an incompatible strain. This lethality can be rescued if females are infected with a compatible strain. Although CI was described in the 1960s and its connection to Wolbachia was made in the 1970s, the genes responsible for CI, called CI factors, were not identified until recently. Since then, significant progress has been made in understanding the molecular mechanism of CI using a combination of genetic, phylogenetic, biochemical and structural approaches. The detailed molecular mechanisms behind this fascinating endosymbiotic bacteria-induced phenotype have begun to emerge. Here, we summarize recent progress in understanding the molecular mechanism of CI, especially focusing on the recently solved CI factor structures and discussing what these new structures brought in terms of CI mechanism.

中文翻译：

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对沃尔巴克氏体诱导的细胞质不相容性的准确机制理解

沃尔巴克氏体是节肢动物中最成功的细胞内细菌。它们可以操纵宿主繁殖以偏爱受感染的雌性，从而将沃尔巴克氏体传播给它们的后代并增加沃尔巴克氏体在种群中的存在。沃尔巴克氏体引起的生殖改变包括女性化、孤雌生殖、雄性杀戮和细胞质不相容（CI），其中以CI最为常见。当感染Wolbachia的雄性与未感染的雌性或感染不相容菌株的雌性交配时，CI 会导致胚胎致死。如果雌性感染了兼容的菌株，则可以挽救这种致命性。尽管 CI 在 1960 年代被描述并且它与Wolbachia的联系是在 1970 年代制造的，直到最近才发现负责 CI 的基因，称为 CI 因子。从那时起，结合遗传、系统发育、生化和结构方法，在理解 CI 的分子机制方面取得了重大进展。这种迷人的内共生细菌诱导的表型背后的详细分子机制已经开始出现。在此，我们总结了近期在理解 CI 的分子机制方面取得的进展，特别关注最近解决的 CI 因子结构，并从 CI 机制的角度讨论这些新结构带来了什么。