Bacterial symbionts as mediators of ecologically important traits of insect hosts
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TLDR
Bacterial symbionts play a prominent role in insect nutritional ecology by aiding in digestion of food or providing nutrients that are limited or lacking in the diet.Abstract:
1. Bacterial symbionts play a prominent role in insect nutritional ecology by aiding in digestion of food or providing nutrients that are limited or lacking in the diet. Thereby, endosymbionts open niches to their insect host that would otherwise be unavailable.
2. Currently, several other ecologically relevant traits mediated by endosymbionts are being investigated, including enhanced parasite resistance, enhanced heat tolerance, and influences on insect–plant interactions such as manipulation of plant physiology to the benefit of the insect.
3. Traits mediated by endosymbionts are often identified by correlative studies where traits are found to be altered in the presence of a particular symbiont. Recent developments in genomic tools offer the opportunity for studying the impact of bacteria–insect symbioses under natural conditions in a population and community ecology context. In vivo experiments specifically testing putative functions of endosymbionts in parallel to population-level studies on the prevalence of endosymbionts allow disentangling host versus symbiont contribution to phenotypic variability observed in individuals. Effects of symbionts on host phenotype are often large and relevant to host fitness, e.g. by significantly enhancing survival or fecundity in a context-dependent manner.
4. Predominantly vertically transmitted endosymbionts contribute to the heritable genetic variation present in a host species. Phenotypic variation on which selection can act may be due to differences either among host genomes, symbiont genomes, or genotype × genotype interactions. Therefore the holobiont, i.e. the host including all symbionts, should be regarded as the unit of selection as the association between host and symbionts may affect the fitness of the holobiont depending on the environment.read more
Citations
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The impact of microbial symbionts on host plant utilization by herbivorous insects
Allison K. Hansen,Nancy A. Moran +1 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that the potential functions of microbial symbionts in facilitating or restricting the use of host plants are constrained by their location (intracellular, gut or environmental), and by the fidelity of their associations with insect host lineages.
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Continental-scale distributions of dust-associated bacteria and fungi
Albert Barberán,Joshua Ladau,Jonathan W. Leff,Katherine S. Pollard,Holly L. Menninger,Robert R. Dunn,Robert R. Dunn,Noah Fierer +7 more
TL;DR: It is found that airborne microbial communities, such as terrestrial plants and animals, exhibit nonrandom geographic patterns, and the factors that shape the continental-scale distributions of microbial taxa are identified, and this first atlas of airborne bacterial and fungal distributions across the continental United States is generated.
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Insect symbionts as hidden players in insect–plant interactions
TL;DR: It is suggested that insect mutualists may be more important 'hidden players' in insect-plant interactions than is currently realised.
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Symbiont Acquisition and Replacement as a Source of Ecological Innovation.
Sailendharan Sudakaran,Sailendharan Sudakaran,Christian Kost,Martin Kaltenpoth,Martin Kaltenpoth +4 more
TL;DR: The known ecological and evolutionary implications of symbiont gains, switches, and replacements are reviewed, and future research directions that can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of symbiosis as a major driving force of ecological adaptation are identified.
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Gut microbes may facilitate insect herbivory of chemically defended plants
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