The Mediterranean Sea and adjoining East Atlantic Ocean host a diverse array of small-sized mussels that predominantly live on sunken, decomposing organic remains. At least two of these, Idas modiolaeformis and Idas simpsoni, are known to engage in gill-associated symbioses; however, the composition, diversity and variability of these symbioses with changing habitat and location is poorly defin...

b a ckground: microbes particularly bacteria presenting in the gut of haematophagous insects may have an important role in the epidemiology of human infectious disease. m e t hods: the microbial flora of gut and surrounding environmental of a laboratory strain of phlebotomus papatasi , the main vector of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (zcl) in the old world, was investigated. biochemical reac...

The mutualistic symbioses between reef-building corals and micro-algae form the basis of coral reef ecosystems, yet recent environmental changes threaten their survival. Diversity in host-symbiont pairings on the sub-species level could be an unrecognized source of functional variation in response to stress. The Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, associates predominantly with one symbio...

Symbiont occurrence is influenced by host occurrence and vice versa, which leads to correlations in host-symbiont distributions at multiple levels. Interactions between co-infecting symbionts within host individuals can cause correlations in the abundance of two symbiont species across individual hosts. Similarly, interactions between symbiont transmission and host population dynamics can drive...

Bathymetric distributions of photosynthetic marine invertebrate species are relatively well studied, however the importance of symbiont zonation (i.e. hosting of distinct algal endosymbiont communities over depth) in determining these depth distributions still remains unclear. Here, we assess the prevalence of symbiont zonation in tropical scleractinian corals by genotyping the Symbiodinium of ...

Symbiotic bacteria are commonly associated with cells and tissues of diverse animals and other organisms, which affect hosts' biology in a variety of ways. Most of these symbionts are present in the cytoplasm of host cells and maternally transmitted through host generations. The paucity of paternal symbiont transmission is likely relevant to the extremely streamlined sperm structure: the head c...

Population-level genetic diversity in the obligate symbiosis between the bivalve Solemya velum and its thioautotrophic bacterial endosymbiont was examined. Distinct populations along the New England coast shared a single mitochondrial genotype but were fixed for unique symbiont genotypes, indicating high levels of symbiont genetic structuring and potential symbiont-host decoupling.

The impact of host nutrition on symbiont regulation in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum was investigated. The population density of the obligate symbiont Buchnera aphidicola positively correlated with dietary nitrogen levels. In contrast, the population density of the facultative symbiont Serratia symbiotica increased in aphids reared on low-nitrogen diets, indicating distinct regulatory mecha...

The performance and function of reef corals depends on the genetic identity of their symbiotic algal partners, with some symbionts providing greater benefits (e.g., photosynthate, thermotolerance) than others. However, these interaction outcomes may also depend on partner abundance, with differences in the total number of symbionts changing the net benefit to the coral host, depending on the pa...