Correction to: Some theoretical insights into the hologenome theory of evolution and the role of microbes in speciation.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.

Some theoretical insights into the hologenome theory of evolution and the role of microbes in speciation.

Research on symbiotic communities (microbiomes) of multicellular organisms seems to be changing our understanding of how species of plants and animals have evolved over millions of years. The quintessence of these discoveries is the emergence of the hologenome theory of evolution, founded on the concept that a holobiont (a host along with all of its associated symbiotic microorganisms) acts a single unit of selection in the process of evolution. Although the hologenome theory has become very popular among certain scientific circles, its principles are still being debated.

Division of labour in the yeast: Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Division of labour between different specialized cell types is a central part of how we describe complexity in multicellular organisms. However, it is increasingly being recognized that division of labour also plays an important role in the lives of predominantly unicellular organisms. Saccharomyces cerevisiae displays several phenotypes that could be considered a division of labour, including quiescence, apoptosis and biofilm formation, but they have not been explicitly treated as such.

Adaptive Roles of and During Cycles of Growth and Starvation in Populations Enriched for Quiescent or Nonquiescent Cells.

Over its evolutionary history, has evolved to be well-adapted to fluctuating nutrient availability. In the presence of sufficient nutrients, yeast cells continue to proliferate, but upon starvation haploid yeast cells enter stationary phase and differentiate into nonquiescent (NQ) and quiescent (Q) cells. Q cells survive stress better than NQ cells and show greater viability when nutrient-rich conditions are restored.

Sociobiology of the budding yeast.

Social theory has provided a useful framework for research with microorganisms. Here I describe the advantages and possible risks of using a well-known model organism, the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, for sociobiological research. I discuss the problems connected with clear classification of yeast behaviour based on the fitnessbased Hamilton paradigm.

Generation of stable, non-aggregating Saccharomyces cerevisiae wild isolates.

Cellular aggregates observed during growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains derived from various natural environments makes most laboratory techniques optimized for non-aggregating laboratory strains inappropriate. We describe a method to reduce the size and percentage of the aggregates. This is achieved by replacing the native allele of the AMN1 gene with an allele found in the W303 laboratory strain.

Effect of dispersal and nutrient availability on the competitive ability of toxin-producing yeast.

The ecological role of interference competition through toxin production is not well understood. In particular, it is unclear under what conditions the benefits of toxic killing outweigh the metabolic costs involved. A killer advantage has been suggested to rely on local competitive interactions where the benefits of killing accrue to the toxin producer preferentially, but this notion has little empirical support.