Digestive-tract microbiota exert tremendous influence over host health. Host-symbiont model
systems are studied to investigate how symbioses are initiated and maintained, as well as to …

An important question that remains unanswered is how the vertebrate neuroimmune system
can be both friend and foe to the damaged nervous tissue. Some of the difficulty in obtaining …

Some reef corals form stable, dominant or codominant associations with multiple
endosymbiotic dinoflagellate species (family Symbiodiniaceae). Given the immense genetic …

The medicinal leech has established a long-term mutualistic association with Aeromonas
veronii, a versatile bacterium which can also display free-living waterborne and fish-or …

Microbial transmission through mucosal-mediated mechanisms is widespread throughout
the animal kingdom. One example of this occurs with Hirudo verbana, the medicinal leech …

The oral microbiome comprises microbial communities colonizing biotic (epithelia, mucosa)
and abiotic (enamel) surfaces. Different communities are associated with health (eg …

Transmission, critical to the establishment and persistence of host-associated microbiotas,
also exposes symbionts to new environmental conditions. With horizontal transmission …

Abstract Aims Medicinal leeches (Annelida: Hirudinea) are fresh water ectoparasitic species
which have been applied as traditional therapy. However, gut microbiota could bring high …

This chapter provides the information on natural history and taxonomy, anatomy and
physiology, environmental disorders, infectious diseases, anesthesia and analgesia, and …

Carrion beetles in the genus Nicrophorus rear their offspring on decomposing carcasses
where larvae are exposed to a diverse microbiome of decomposer bacteria. Parents coat the …