This research paper describes a set of quantitative approaches to characterizing phage densities and its associations with bacterial densities and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI) within Wolbachia. The findings motivate a novel phage density model of CI in which lytic phage repress Wolbachia densities and therefore reproductive parasitism. The paper concludes that phage, Wolbachia, and arthropods form a tripartite symbiotic association in which all three are integral to understanding the biology of this widespread endosymbiosis.
