Virtually all plants and animals, including humans, are home to symbiotic microorganisms.
Symbiotic interactions can be neutral, harmful or have beneficial effects on the host …

Most of the genetic, cellular, and biochemical diversity of life rests within single-celled
organisms—the prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) and microbial eukaryotes (protists) …

Phylosymbiosis was recently formulated to support a hypothesis-driven framework for the
characterization of a new, cross-system trend in host-associated microbiomes. Defining …

While the importance of mutualisms across the tree of life is recognized, it is not understood
why some organisms evolve high levels of dependence on mutualistic partnerships, while …

Host-beneficial endosymbioses, which are formed when a microorganism takes up
residence inside another cell and provides a fitness advantage to the host, have had a …

Animals live together with diverse bacteria that can impact their biology. In Drosophila
melanogaster, gut-associated bacterial communities are relatively simple in composition but …

Beneficial associations with bacteria are widespread across animals, spanning a range of
symbiont localizations, transmission routes, and functions. While some of these associations …

It is now widely accepted that microorganisms play many important roles in the lives of
plants and animals. Every macroorganism has been shaped in some way by …

Genetic diversity of closely related free-living microorganisms is widespread and underpins
ecosystem functioning, but most evolutionary theories predict that it destabilizes intimate …

Animals with close social relationships often have similar microbiomes. These socially
structured microbiomes can arise through multiple mechanisms that are often difficult to …