Context dependence in the symbiosis between Dictyostelium discoideum and Paraburkholderia.

ABSTRACT: Symbiotic interactions change with environmental context. Measuring these context-dependent effects in hosts and symbionts is critical to determining the nature of symbiotic interactions. We investigated context dependence in the symbiosis between social amoeba hosts and their inedible Paraburkholderia bacterial symbionts, where the context is the abundance of host food bacteria. Paraburkholderia have been shown to harm hosts dispersed to food-rich environments, but aid hosts dispersed to food-poor environments by allowing hosts to carry food bacteria. Through measuring symbiont density and host spore production, we show that this food context matters in three other ways. First, it matters for symbionts, who suffer a greater cost from competition with food bacteria in the foo

SUBMITTER: Scott TJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9233174 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature