Uncovering the hidden players in Lepidoptera biology: the heritable microbial endosymbionts.

ABSTRACT: The Lepidoptera is one of the most widespread and recognisable insect orders. Due to their remarkable diversity, economic and ecological importance, moths and butterflies have been studied extensively over the last 200 years. More recently, the relationship between Lepidoptera and their heritable microbial endosymbionts has received increasing attention. Heritable endosymbionts reside within the host's body and are often, but not exclusively, inherited through the female line. Advancements in molecular genetics have revealed that host-associated microbes are both extremely prevalent among arthropods and highly diverse. Furthermore, heritable endosymbionts have been repeatedly demonstrated to play an integral role in many aspects of host biology, particularly host reproduction. Here, we rev

SUBMITTER: Duplouy A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5947162 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature