Fitness costs of symbiont switching using entomopathogenic nematodes as a model

BMC Evolutionary Biology

Research Article

Brittany F. Peterson¹  Heidi Goodrich Blair²  Steven Forst³  S. Patricia Stock⁴  John G. McMullen⁵ 

[1] Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1007 E. Lowell St, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;Department of Entomology, University of Arizona, 11490 E. South Campus Dr, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;Current address: Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, F331A Walters Life Sciences, 37996-0845, Knoxville, TN, USA;Department of Biological Sciences, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Lapham Hall 458, 53201-0413, Milwaukee, WI, USA;School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, PO Box 210090, 117 East Lowell Street, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, 1007 E. Lowell St, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;Department of Entomology, University of Arizona, 11490 E. South Campus Dr, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, University of Arizona, PO Box 210090, 117 East Lowell Street, 85721, Tucson, AZ, USA;Current address: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, 2130 Comstock Hall, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA;

关键词: Entomopathogenic nematodes;    Symbiosis;    Mutualism;    Partner choice;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12862-017-0939-6

 received in 2016-12-16, accepted in 2017-03-16,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSteinernematid nematodes form obligate symbioses with bacteria from the genus Xenorhabdus. Together Steinernema nematodes and their bacterial symbionts successfully infect, kill, utilize, and exit their insect hosts. During this process the nematodes and bacteria disassociate requiring them to re-associate before emerging from the host. This interaction can be complicated when two different nematodes co-infect an insect host.ResultsNon-cognate nematode-bacteria pairings result in reductions for multiple measures of success, including total progeny production and virulence. Additionally, nematode infective juveniles carry fewer bacterial cells when colonized by a non-cognate symbiont. Finally, we show that Steinernema nematodes can distinguish heterospecific and some conspecific non-cognate symbionts in behavioral choice assays.ConclusionsSteinernema-Xenorhabdus symbioses are tightly governed by partner recognition and fidelity. Association with non-cognates resulted in decreased fitness, virulence, and bacterial carriage of the nematode-bacterial pairings. Entomopathogenic nematodes and their bacterial symbionts are a useful, tractable, and reliable model for testing hypotheses regarding the evolution, maintenance, persistence, and fate of mutualisms.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017