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Title: Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts

Abstract

Microbial symbionts provide benefits that contribute to the ecology and fitness of host plants and animals. Therefore, the evolutionary success of plants and animals fundamentally depends on long-term maintenance of beneficial associations. Most work investigating coevolution and symbiotic maintenance has focused on species-level associations, and studies are lacking that assess the impact of bacterial strain diversity on symbiotic associations within a coevolutionary framework. Here, we demonstrate that fitness in mutualism varies depending on bacterial strain identity, and this is consistent with variation shaping phylogenetic patterns and maintenance through fitness benefits. Through genome sequencing of nine bacterial symbiont strains and cophylogenetic analysis, we demonstrate diversity among Xenorhabdus bovienii bacteria. Further, we identified cocladogenesis between Steinernema feltiae nematode hosts and their corresponding X. bovienii symbiont strains, indicating potential specificity within the association. To test the specificity, we performed laboratory crosses of nematode hosts with native and nonnative symbiont strains, which revealed that combinations with the native bacterial symbiont and closely related strains performed significantly better than those with more divergent symbionts. Through genomic analyses we also defined potential factors contributing to specificity between nematode hosts and bacterial symbionts. These results suggest that strain-level diversity (e.g., subspecies-level differences) in microbial symbionts can drive variationmore » in the success of host-microbe associations, and this suggests that these differences in symbiotic success could contribute to maintenance of the symbiosis over an evolutionary time scale.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
  2. Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
  3. Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Research Service; National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Canada)
OSTI Identifier:
1626082
Grant/Contract Number:  
FC02-07ER64494; IOS-0920631; IOS-0919912; IOS-0919565; T32AI55397; T32 GM07215
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
mBio (Online)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: mBio (Online); Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2150-7511
Publisher:
American Society for Microbiology (ASM)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Microbiology

Citation Formats

Murfin, Kristen E., Lee, Ming-Min, Klassen, Jonathan L., McDonald, Bradon R., Larget, Bret, Forst, Steven, Stock, S. Patricia, Currie, Cameron R., and Goodrich-Blair, Heidi. Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1128/mbio.00076-15.
Murfin, Kristen E., Lee, Ming-Min, Klassen, Jonathan L., McDonald, Bradon R., Larget, Bret, Forst, Steven, Stock, S. Patricia, Currie, Cameron R., & Goodrich-Blair, Heidi. Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts. United States. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00076-15
Murfin, Kristen E., Lee, Ming-Min, Klassen, Jonathan L., McDonald, Bradon R., Larget, Bret, Forst, Steven, Stock, S. Patricia, Currie, Cameron R., and Goodrich-Blair, Heidi. Thu . "Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts". United States. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.00076-15. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1626082.
@article{osti_1626082,
title = {Xenorhabdus bovienii Strain Diversity Impacts Coevolution and Symbiotic Maintenance with Steinernema spp. Nematode Hosts},
author = {Murfin, Kristen E. and Lee, Ming-Min and Klassen, Jonathan L. and McDonald, Bradon R. and Larget, Bret and Forst, Steven and Stock, S. Patricia and Currie, Cameron R. and Goodrich-Blair, Heidi},
abstractNote = {Microbial symbionts provide benefits that contribute to the ecology and fitness of host plants and animals. Therefore, the evolutionary success of plants and animals fundamentally depends on long-term maintenance of beneficial associations. Most work investigating coevolution and symbiotic maintenance has focused on species-level associations, and studies are lacking that assess the impact of bacterial strain diversity on symbiotic associations within a coevolutionary framework. Here, we demonstrate that fitness in mutualism varies depending on bacterial strain identity, and this is consistent with variation shaping phylogenetic patterns and maintenance through fitness benefits. Through genome sequencing of nine bacterial symbiont strains and cophylogenetic analysis, we demonstrate diversity among Xenorhabdus bovienii bacteria. Further, we identified cocladogenesis between Steinernema feltiae nematode hosts and their corresponding X. bovienii symbiont strains, indicating potential specificity within the association. To test the specificity, we performed laboratory crosses of nematode hosts with native and nonnative symbiont strains, which revealed that combinations with the native bacterial symbiont and closely related strains performed significantly better than those with more divergent symbionts. Through genomic analyses we also defined potential factors contributing to specificity between nematode hosts and bacterial symbionts. These results suggest that strain-level diversity (e.g., subspecies-level differences) in microbial symbionts can drive variation in the success of host-microbe associations, and this suggests that these differences in symbiotic success could contribute to maintenance of the symbiosis over an evolutionary time scale.},
doi = {10.1128/mbio.00076-15},
journal = {mBio (Online)},
number = 3,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Thu Jun 04 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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