Article
Microbiology
Jessica Dittmer, Robert M. Brucker
Summary: This study investigated the role of microbiome in host nutrient allocation during diapause of parasitoid wasp N. vitripennis, revealing the essential role of microbiome and altered microbiome composition during diapause. The prolonged larval diapause had a transstadial effect on the adult microbiome, leading to changes in the abundance of dominant microbiome members and potential bacterial pathogens. The impact of diapause on the microbiome is likely influenced by various factors, including altered host regulatory mechanisms and the host environment.
Article
Microbiology
Andrew J. J. Forgie, Deanna M. M. Pepin, Tingting Ju, Stephanie Tollenaar, Consolato M. M. Sergi, Samantha Gruenheid, Benjamin P. P. Willing
Summary: This study found that vitamin B12 supplementation can alter the activities of certain microbial populations in the gut, promoting the colonization of a specific pathogen (Citrobacter rodentium) in mice. These changes were associated with alterations in markers of gut inflammation. The results suggest that excessive B12 supplementation may have consequences on microbial competition/sharing in the gut.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jules Rodrigues, Emilie Lefoulon, Laurent Gavotte, Marco Perillat-Sanguinet, Benjamin Makepeace, Coralie Martin, Cyrille A. D'Haese
Summary: Wolbachia, an endosymbiotic bacteria, infects diverse arthropods and nematode hosts and has various interactions. The taxonomy of Wolbachia is defined by supergroups, while its evolutionary history involves horizontal transfers and secondary losses. In this study, the diversity of Wolbachia infecting springtails was characterized, and new genotypes were identified. The phylogeny of Wolbachia was rooted using a different group infecting plant-parasitic nematodes. It is hypothesized that the ancestor of Wolbachia was consumed by soil-dwelling nematodes and was then transferred to aphids and subsequently infected edaphic arthropods before expanding to other terrestrial arthropods and filarial nematodes.
ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Biology
Stuart K. J. R. Auld, June Brand, Luc F. Bussiere
Summary: Epidemics can lead to declines in host population genetic diversity, and this can have long-term effects on the evolution of resistance and subsequent epidemic sizes. However, the loss of genetic diversity can also make hosts more vulnerable to future epidemics. The presence of diapausing life stages in many host organisms further complicates this relationship, as they allow for host dispersal through time and can affect host genetic diversity and future epidemics. In a study on Daphnia magna and its bacterial parasite Pasteuria ramosa, researchers found that early initiation of diapause led to increased host genetic diversity and reduced epidemic sizes in the following year, regardless of environmental disturbance.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Ginaini Grazielli Doin de Moura, Saida Mouffok, Nil Gaudu, Anne-Claire Cazale, Marine Milhes, Tabatha Bulach, Sophie Valiere, David Roche, Jean-Baptiste Ferdy, Catherine Masson-Boivin, Delphine Capela, Philippe Remigi
Summary: During the experimental evolution of a plant pathogenic bacterium into a legume symbiont, improved competitiveness for host entry was the main driver of fast adaptation, outweighing adaptation to within-host proliferation. Continuous accumulation of new mutations and sequential sweeps of mutations were observed, with multiple adaptive mutations co-occurring in the same cohort. Selective bottlenecks before within-host proliferation and after the hypermutagenesis phase were found to alter the relative influence of selective pressures during bacterial adaptation to multistep infection processes.
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Plant Sciences
Ruth Eichmann, Luke Richards, Patrick Schaefer
Summary: The interaction between plants and microbial communities is crucial for plant adaptation in complex ecosystems. The composition and diversity of microbial communities vary between plant and soil compartments, indicating a dynamic and interactive relationship influenced by environmental factors. Hormones play a key role in shaping plant microbiomes and contribute to the diversity and functionality of plant ecosystems.
Review
Developmental Biology
Tyler J. Carrier, Thomas C. G. Bosch
Summary: This article addresses the impact of microbial symbiosis on animal development and provides an assessment of which developmental processes are influenced by microbial symbiosis, offering a holistic view of the budding discipline of developmental symbiosis.
Article
Ecology
Jacob A. Rasmussen, Pia Kiilerich, Abdullah S. Madhun, Rune Waagbo, Erik-Jan R. Lock, Lise Madsen, M. Thomas P. Gilbert, Karsten Kristiansen, Morten T. Limborg
Summary: Understanding the evolutionary relationships between a host and its intestinal resident bacteria can transform our understanding of adaptive phenotypic traits. This study reveals a strong co-evolution between the population structure of Atlantic salmon and nucleotide variability of the intestinal Mycoplasma populations, indicating an interplay between the host and its resident bacteria.
Article
Microbiology
Arne Weinhold
Summary: Animal movement plays a significant role in the acquisition and dispersal of host microbiota. Aggregation movement enhances social transmissions, foraging movement expands diet diversity, and dispersal movement determines the local environment of a host. Host movement also extends the boundaries of microbial dispersal limitations and connects habitats.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2022)
Review
Microbiology
Emily M. Wollmuth, Esther R. Angert
Summary: Circadian rhythms have important impacts on gene expression and metabolism in bacteria, but so far, only the circadian clock mechanism in cyanobacteria has been revealed. Daily oscillations in microbial communities are largely controlled by light-dark cycles in marine ecosystems and symbioses, while the influx of nutrients in the gut system can significantly alter the gut microbiota. Further research is needed to confirm whether heterotrophic bacteria associated with hosts possess circadian rhythm systems and how they respond to diel cycles.
Article
Microbiology
Pol Nadal-Jimenez, Steven R. Parratt, Stefanos Siozios, Gregory D. D. Hurst
Summary: Vertically transmitted heritable microbial symbionts are important invertebrate biology and ecology. Arsenophonus provides a clear example of symbiotic transmission patterns, with some strains being obligate vertically transmitted symbionts and others having mixed modes of transmission. This research expands the understanding of genetic mechanisms in bacterial-insect interactions and broadens the range of host species infected with nasoniae/apicola clade strains.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Reginaldo A. F. Gusmao, Fabio A. Hernandes, Mauricio H. Vancine, Luciano N. Naka, Jorge Dona, Thiago Goncalves-Souza
Summary: The global diversity of feather mites is primarily influenced by both biotic and to a lesser extent abiotic factors, with bird species richness playing a significant role. Biotic factors are more important in tropical regions compared to temperate regions, while climatic variables have a relatively smaller impact on mite species richness at a global scale.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Guan-Hong Wang, Jessica Dittmer, Brecia Douglas, Long Huang, Robert M. Brucker
Summary: Researchers exposed parasitoid wasps to the herbicide atrazine for multiple generations and found that atrazine exposure led to adaptive changes in the microbiome and host genome, as well as alterations in gene expression and immune response. Microbiome transplant experiments showed that the evolved microbiome of the atrazine-exposed population decreased survival rates of adult wasps from the control population, indicating xenobiotic-induced selection mediated host-microbiome coadaptation, leading to a new host genome-microbiome equilibrium.
Article
Plant Sciences
Shirui Shelley Wang, Andrew Gougherty, T. Jonathan Davies
Summary: The research found that non-native pests have a broader host range compared to native pests, especially among insect pests. A broad host range may facilitate the establishment of non-native pests.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Chantal Selina Ingham, Tobias Engl, Bernal Matarrita-Carranza, Paul Vogler, Bruno Huettel, Natalie Wielsch, Ales Svatos, Martin Kaltenpoth
Summary: Symbiosis with microbes is important for the evolutionary success of insects, and a study on beewolves shows that the host provides a protective barrier against nitric oxide to ensure the survival of symbiotic bacteria during transmission.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ashkaan K. Fahimipour, Fanqi Zeng, Martin Homer, Arne Traulsen, Simon A. Levin, Thilo Gross
Summary: This article analyzes the transition between homogeneous and self-organized states in a cooperation game on a spatial network. The formation of safe havens is dependent on a certain threshold in connectivity, which can be linked to the structure of the patch network and specific network motifs. Surprisingly, a forgiving defector avoidance strategy may be most favorable for cooperators.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Stefano Giaimo, Arne Traulsen
Summary: A common measure of generation time is the average distance between recruitment events along a genetic lineage. When the environment fluctuates, the calculation of generation time must take into account the elasticities of the stochastic growth rate to fecundities. Additionally, generation time in fluctuating environments may deviate from the average environment.
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Nikhil Sharma, Arne Traulsen
Summary: Evolutionary dynamics on graphs typically focus on the case of a single mutant entering a graph-structured population, while overlooking the constantly arising mutants in an evolving population. This study reveals that a specific class of graphs, known as suppressors of fixation, can achieve the highest population mean fitness in long-term evolution.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Biology
Vanessa Ress, Arne Traulsen, Yuriy Pichugin
Summary: The evolution of multicellular life cycles is a central process in the emergence of multicellularity, and the interactions between multicellular groups play an important role in the evolution of life cycles. The outcome of evolution could be coexistence between multiple life cycles.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maria Alejandra Ramirez, Matteo Smerlak, Arne Traulsen, Juergen Jost
Summary: Social dilemmas involve conflicts between collective welfare and individual gain. The Traveler's Dilemma, a well-studied example, highlights the conflict between human behavior and game theoretic reasoning. Players are motivated to undercut their opponent, leading to a mutual undercutting until the lowest possible payoff is reached. However, if players were satisfied with a high payoff, both individuals and the collective would benefit. Our analysis reveals that escaping local maximization and transitioning to a global game is necessary to achieve the cooperative equilibrium. Diversity, represented by suboptimal strategies, plays a crucial role in facilitating the transition towards cooperation.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Stefano Giaimo, Arne Traulsen
Summary: Sensitivity analysis plays a crucial role in evaluating key parameters for population growth in ecology and evolution. This study introduces a method to enhance the granularity of sensitivity analysis for population growth in stage-classified populations by considering the influence of age-specific parameters. The proposed method is applicable to stable population growth, stochastic growth rate, and transient growth, and provides insights into the age-specific selective forces shaping senescence in stage-classified populations.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Michael Raatz, Arne Traulsen
Summary: When cancers or bacterial infections occur, a small group of cells need to escape regulation, evolve and adapt to their environment. The shape of the fitness landscape determines the adaptation trajectory of birth and death rates. Treatment strategies targeting both birth and death rates are most effective but increase evolvability. By mapping physiological adaptation pathways and molecular drug mechanisms to traits and treatments with clear eco-evolutionary consequences, we can better understand the dynamics of cancer and bacterial infections.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Henry Goehlich, Olivia Roth, Michael Sieber, Cynthia M. Chibani, Anja Poehlein, Jelena Rajkov, Heiko Liesegang, Carolin C. Wendling
Summary: Infections by filamentous phages can influence bacterial fitness, with the production of viral particles being energetically costly. Bacteria can evolve resistance if the costs outweigh the benefits, shortening phage epidemics. The impact of abiotic conditions on host resistance evolution is still unknown.
Article
Biology
Arne Traulsen, Nikoleta E. Glynatsi
Summary: Evolutionary game theory is an interdisciplinary subject that extends beyond biology, attracting mathematicians, social scientists, and computer scientists. The field has the potential for convergence or continued cross-fertilization between different disciplines, as insights are discovered and applied in various fields. The popularity of evolutionary game theory lies in its explanatory power and intuitive models.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arne Traulsen, Simon A. Levin, Chadi M. Saad-Roy
Summary: Individual and societal reactions to a pandemic can create social dilemmas. The extent of regulations to reduce transmission is small in most countries, resulting in interventions driven by individual decision-making. We propose a framework to quantify this situation based on protection, infection risk, and intervention costs, and discuss the tension between individual and societal benefits.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biology
Yuanyuan Ma, Jinru He, Michael Sieber, Jakob von Frieling, Iris Bruchhaus, John F. F. Baines, Ulf Bickmeyer, Thomas Roeder
Summary: The close relationship between animals and their associated microbiota is beneficial for both partners. The flatworm Macrostomum lignano was used as a model to study the host-microbiota interaction in detail. The study found that different developmental stages of the flatworm have specific microbiota and that the microbiota plays a physiological role in the host's fitness, particularly under conditions of limited food supply. The microbiota of M. lignano exhibits a circadian rhythm and influences the behavior of specific bacterial taxa, while the presence of the worm affects the composition of bacterial communities in the environment. Overall, this study provides insights into host-microbe interactions in marine invertebrates using the Macrostomum-microbiota system.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Sedigheh Yagoobi, Nikhil Sharma, Arne Traulsen
Summary: The structure of a population greatly impacts its evolutionary dynamics, with individuals interacting more often with those nearby. Evolutionary graph theory is commonly used to model population structure, where nodes represent reproducing individuals and links connect them to their neighbors. By replacing single individuals with subpopulations at nodes, a graph-structured metapopulation is formed. The dynamics between local subpopulations are determined by update mechanisms.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Felix Geoffroy, Arne Traulsen, Hildegard Uecker
Summary: When vaccine supply is limited, careful consideration should be given to the allocation of available doses. Stretching the interval between first and second doses allows for faster vaccination of more individuals with the first dose, but there is concern that intermediate levels of immunity in partially vaccinated individuals may promote the evolution of vaccine escape mutants. Therefore, there is a trade-off between reducing the burden and the risk of vaccine escape evolution.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Roman Zapien-Campos, Florence Bansept, Michael Sieber, Arne Traulsen
Summary: This study uses a mathematical model to investigate the effect of microbial inheritance from parents to offspring. The results show that even without selection, the inheritance of microbes can have a significant impact on hosts with shorter lifespans or limited colonization, particularly in terms of acquiring rare microbes.
BMC ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Roman Zapien-Campos, Michael Sieber, Arne Traulsen
Summary: Theoretical models are useful for understanding the drivers of community dynamics. In the case of neutral models, the predictions may not be robust to type-specific rates. Large immigration and biodiversity can lead to the occurrence-abundance pattern regardless of neutral or non-neutral rates.
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY INTERFACE
(2022)
