Many aspects of an individual's biology derive from its interaction with symbiotic microbes,
which further define many aspects of the ecology and evolution of the host species. The …

For over 300 million years, insects have relied on symbiotic microbes for nutrition and
defence. However, it is unclear whether specific ecological conditions have repeatedly …

Symbiosis with intracellular or gut bacteria is essential for the nutrition of animals with an
obligate blood-feeding habit. Divergent bacterial lineages have independently evolved …

Obligatory hematophagous arthropods such as lice, bugs, flies, and ticks harbor bacterial
endosymbionts that are expected to complement missing essential nutrients in their diet …

Many insects depend on obligate mutualistic bacteria to provide essential nutrients lacking
from their diet. Most aphids, whose diet consists of phloem, rely on the bacterial …

Ants are among the most successful organisms on Earth. It has been suggested that forming
symbioses with nutrient-supplementing microbes may have contributed to their success, by …

Background The life cycles of many insect species include an obligatory or facultative
diapause stage with arrested development and low metabolic activity as an overwintering …

Virtually all aphids (Aphididae) harbor Buchnera aphidicola as an obligate endosymbiont to
compensate nutritional deficiencies arising from their phloem diet. Many species within the …

Genome reduction is pervasive among maternally-inherited endosymbiotic organisms, from
bacteriocyte-to gut-associated ones. This genome erosion is a step-wise process in which …

Insect lineages feeding on nutritionally restricted diets such as phloem sap, xylem sap, or
blood, were able to diversify by acquiring bacterial species that complement lacking …