Evolutionary Dynamics of Host Organs for Microbial Symbiosis in Tortoise Leaf Beetles (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cassidinae)

Diverse insects host specific microbial symbionts that play important roles for their growth, survival, and reproduction. They often develop specialized symbiotic organs for harboring the microbial partners. While such intimate associations tend to be stably maintained over evolutionary time, the microbial symbionts may have been lost or replaced occasionally. How symbiont acquisitions, replacements, and losses are linked to the development of the host's symbiotic organs is an important but poorly understood aspect of microbial symbioses. Cassidine leaf beetles are associated with a specific gammaproteobacterial lineage, Stammera, whose reduced genome is streamlined for producing pectin-degrading enzymes to assist the host's digestion of food plants. We investigated the symbiotic system of 24 Japanese cassidine species and found that (i) most species harbored Stammera within paired symbiotic organs located at the foregut-midgut junction, (ii) the host phylogeny was largely congruent with the symbiont phylogeny, indicating stable host-symbiont association over evolutionary time, (iii) meanwhile, the symbiont was not detected in three distinct host lineages, uncovering recurrent losses of the ancient microbial mutualist, (iv) the symbiotic organs were vestigial but present in the symbiont-free lineages, indicating evolutionary persistence of the symbiotic organs even in the absence of the symbiont, and (v) the number of the symbiotic organs was polymorphic among the cassidine species, either two or four, unveiling a dynamic evolution of the host organs for symbiosis. These findings are discussed as to what molecular mechanisms and evolutionary trajectories underpin the recurrent symbiont losses and the morphogenesis of the symbiotic organs in the herbivorous insect group. IMPORTANCE Insects represent the biodiversity of the terrestrial ecosystem, and their prosperity is attributable to their association with symbiotic microorganisms. By sequestering microbial functionality into their bodies, organs, tissues, or cells, diverse insects have successfully exploited otherwise inaccessible ecological niches and resources, including herbivory enabled by utilization of indigestible plant cell wall components. In leaf beetles of the subfamily Cassininae, an ancient symbiont lineage, Stammera, whose genome is extremely reduced and specialized for encoding pectin-degrading enzymes, is hosted in gut-associated symbiotic organs and contributes to the host's food plant digestion. Here, we demonstrate that multiple symbiont losses and recurrent structural switching of the symbiotic organs have occurred in the evolutionary course of cassidine leaf beetles, which sheds light on the evolutionary and developmental dynamics of the insect's symbiotic organs and provides a model system to investigate how microbial symbionts affect the host's development and morphogenesis and vice versa.

Automated summary

In this study, the symbiotic system of Japanese cassidine species was investigated, revealing a stable association between the host and symbiont, but also recurrent losses of the symbiont. The presence of symbiotic organs even in the absence of the symbiont suggests their evolutionary persistence.