Repeated horizontal acquisition of lagriamide-producing symbionts in Lagriinae beetles.

ABSTRACT: Microbial symbionts associate with multicellular organisms on a continuum from facultative associations to mutual codependency. In some of the oldest intracellular symbioses there is exclusive vertical symbiont transmission, and co-diversification of symbiotic partners over millions of years. Such symbionts often undergo genome reduction due to low effective population sizes, frequent population bottlenecks, and reduced purifying selection. Here, we describe multiple independent acquisition events of closely related defensive symbionts followed by genome erosion in a group of Lagriinae beetles. Previous work in Lagria villosa revealed the dominant genome-eroded symbiont of the genus Burkholderia produces the antifungal compound lagriamide and protects the beetle's eggs and la

SUBMITTER: Uppal S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11257431 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature