Microbiome Analysis of Malacopathogenic Nematodes Suggests No Evidence of a Single Bacterial Symbiont Responsible for Gastropod Mortality.

ABSTRACT: Nematodes and bacteria are prevalent in soil ecosystems, and some have evolved symbiotic relationships. In some cases, symbionts carry out highly specialized functions: a prime example being entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs), which vector bacteria (Xenorhabdus or Photorhabdus) into insect hosts, killing them to provide a food source for the nematodes. It is thought that the commercially available malacopathogenic (kills slugs and snails) biocontrol nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita vectors a bacterium (Moraxella osloensis) into slugs to kill them. To investigate this further we used a metagenomic approach to profile the bacteria present in the commercial strain of P. hermaphrodita, a wild strain of P. hermaphrodita and two other Phasmarhabd

SUBMITTER: Sheehy L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9065361 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature