Insect Symbiosis Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany; Present address: Systems Biology, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Experimental Ecology and Evolution Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology, Jena, Germany; Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany; Present address: Department of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.
Trends Microbiol. 2017 May;25(5):375-390. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2017.02.014. Epub 2017 Mar 20.
Nutritional symbionts play a major role in the ecology and evolution of insects. The recent accumulation of knowledge on the identity, function, genomics, and phylogenetic relationships of insect-bacteria symbioses provides the opportunity to assess the effects of symbiont acquisitions and replacements on the shift into novel ecological niches and subsequent lineage diversification. The megadiverse insect order Hemiptera presents a particularly large diversity of symbiotic associations that has frequently undergone shifts in symbiont localization and identity, which have contributed to the exploitation of nutritionally imbalanced diets such as plant saps or vertebrate blood. Here we review the known ecological and evolutionary implications of symbiont gains, switches, and replacements, and identify future research directions that can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of symbiosis as a major driving force of ecological adaptation.
营养共生体在昆虫的生态学和进化中起着重要作用。最近，关于昆虫-细菌共生体的身份、功能、基因组学和系统发育关系的知识积累，为评估共生体的获得和替代对进入新的生态位以及随后的谱系多样化的影响提供了机会。多样性极高的半翅目昆虫目呈现出特别多样化的共生关系，这些共生关系经常发生共生体定位和身份的转变，这有助于利用营养失衡的饮食，如植物汁液或脊椎动物血液。在这里，我们回顾了共生体获得、转换和替代的已知生态和进化意义，并确定了未来的研究方向，这有助于更全面地理解共生作为生态适应的主要驱动力。
