Are ecological communities the seat of endosymbiont horizontal transfer and diversification? A case study with soil arthropod community.

ABSTRACT: Maternally inherited endosymbionts of arthropods are one of the most abundant and diverse group of bacteria. These bacterial endosymbionts also show extensive horizontal transfer to taxonomically unrelated hosts and widespread recombination in their genomes. Such horizontal transfers can be enhanced when different arthropod hosts come in contact like in an ecological community. Higher rates of horizontal transfer can also increase the probability of recombination between endosymbionts, as they now share the same host cytoplasm. However, reports of community-wide endosymbiont data are rare as most studies choose few host taxa and specific ecological interactions among the hosts. To better understand endosymbiont spread within host populations, we investigated the incidence, diversity, exten

SUBMITTER: Gupta M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8571607 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature