An IMD-like pathway mediates both endosymbiont control and host immunity in the cereal weevil Sitophilus spp.

ABSTRACT: Many insects developing on nutritionally unbalanced diets have evolved symbiotic associations with vertically transmitted intracellular bacteria (endosymbionts) that provide them with metabolic components, thereby improving the host's abilities to thrive on such poor ecological niches. While host-endosymbiont coevolutionary constraints are known to entail massive genomic changes in the microbial partner, host's genomic evolution remains elusive, particularly with regard to the immune system. In the cereal weevil Sitophilus spp., which houses Sodalis pierantonius, endosymbionts are secluded in specialized host cells, the bacteriocytes that group together as an organ, the bacteriome. We previously reported that at standard conditions, the bacteriome highly expresses the coleoptericin A (colA

SUBMITTER: Maire J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5759881 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature