Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT, 59812, USA.
J Chem Ecol. 2013 Jul;39(7):989-1002. doi: 10.1007/s10886-013-0318-8. Epub 2013 Jul 12.
All higher organisms are involved in symbioses with microbes. The importance of these partnerships has led to the concept of the holobiont, defined as the animal or plant with all its associated microbes. Indeed, the interactions between insects and symbionts form much of the basis for the success and diversity of this group of arthropods. Insects rely on microbes to perform basic life functions and to exploit resources and habitats. By "partnering" with microbes, insects access new genomic variation instantaneously allowing the exploitation of new adaptive zones, influencing not only outcomes in ecological time, but the degree of innovation and change that occurs over evolutionary time. In this review, I present a brief overview of the importance of insect-microbe holobionts to illustrate how critical an understanding of the holobiont is to understanding the insect host and it interactions with its environment. I then review what is known about the most influential insect holobionts in many forest ecosystems-bark beetles and their microbes-and how new approaches and technologies are allowing us to illuminate how these symbioses function. Finally, I discuss why it will be critical to study bark beetles as a holobiont to understand the ramifications and extent of anthropogenic change in forest ecosystems.
所有高等生物都与微生物共生。这些伙伴关系的重要性导致了“整体生物”的概念的产生，即带有所有相关微生物的动物或植物。事实上，昆虫与共生体之间的相互作用构成了这组节肢动物成功和多样性的基础。昆虫依靠微生物来完成基本的生命功能，并利用资源和栖息地。通过与微生物“合作”，昆虫可以立即获得新的基因组变异，从而利用新的适应区，这不仅影响生态时间的结果，还影响进化时间发生的创新和变化程度。在这篇综述中，我简要概述了昆虫-微生物整体生物对理解昆虫宿主及其与环境相互作用的重要性，来说明理解整体生物是多么关键。然后，我回顾了在许多森林生态系统中最有影响力的昆虫整体生物——树皮甲虫及其微生物——以及新的方法和技术如何使我们能够阐明这些共生关系的功能。最后，我讨论了为什么将研究树皮甲虫作为一个整体生物来理解森林生态系统中人为变化的影响和程度至关重要。
