How do host age and nutrition affect density regulation of obligate versus facultative bacterial symbionts? Insights from the tsetse fly.

ABSTRACT: Host-symbiont relationships can vary tremendously in the extent to which hosts depend on and control their symbionts. Obligate symbionts that provide micronutrients to their host are often compartmentalised to specialised host organs and depend on their hosts for survival, whereas facultative symbionts retain the ability to survive outside of their hosts. Few studies compare the extent to which a host controls and adjusts the density of obligate and facultative symbionts directly. We used tsetse as a model for teasing apart the relationships between a host (Glossina morsitans morsitans) and obligate (Wigglesworthia glossinidia) and facultative (Sodalis glossinidius) symbionts. We hypothesised that tsetse actively regulate the density of Wigglesworthia according

SUBMITTER: Whittle M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12309370 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature