Functional genomics of a Spiroplasma associated with the carmine cochineals Dactylopius coccus and Dactylopius opuntiae.

Background: Spiroplasma is a widely distributed endosymbiont of insects, arthropods, and plants. In insects, Spiroplasma colonizes the gut, hemolymph, and reproductive organs of the host. Previous metagenomic surveys of the domesticated carmine cochineal Dactylopius coccus and the wild cochineal D.

Differential gene expression in a tripartite interaction: , and parasitic wasps.

Background: Several facultative bacterial symbionts of insects protect their hosts against natural enemies. strain Mel (hereafter ), a male-killing heritable symbiont of , confers protection against some species of parasitic wasps. Several lines of evidence suggest that -encoded ribosome inactivating proteins (RIPs) are involved in the protection mechanism, but the potential contribution of the fly-encoded functions (e.

We and herbivores eat endophytes.

Health depends on the diet and a vegetal diet promotes health by providing fibres, vitamins and diverse metabolites. Remarkably, plants may also provide microbes. Fungi and bacteria that reside inside plant tissues (endophytes) seem better protected to survive digestion; thus, we investigated the reported evidence on the endophytic origin of some members of the gut microbiota in animals such as panda, koala, rabbits and tortoises and several herbivore insects.

Effect of heritable symbionts on maternally-derived embryo transcripts.

Maternally-transmitted endosymbiotic bacteria are ubiquitous in insects. Among other influential phenotypes, many heritable symbionts of arthropods are notorious for manipulating host reproduction through one of four reproductive syndromes, which are generally exerted during early developmental stages of the host: male feminization; parthenogenesis induction; male killing; and cytoplasmic incompatibility (CI). Major advances have been achieved in understanding mechanisms and identifying symbiont factors involved in reproductive manipulation, particularly male killing and cytoplasmic incompatibility.

Independent origins of resistance or susceptibility of parasitic wasps to a defensive symbiont.

Insect microbe associations are diverse, widespread, and influential. Among the fitness effects of microbes on their hosts, defense against natural enemies is increasingly recognized as ubiquitous, particularly among those associations involving heritable, yet facultative, bacteria. Protective mutualisms generate complex ecological and coevolutionary dynamics that are only beginning to be elucidated.