Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, UK.
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Ecol Lett. 2021 Aug;24(8):1681-1696. doi: 10.1111/ele.13757. Epub 2021 May 14.
Symbioses exert substantial biological influence, with great evolutionary and ecological relevance for disease, major evolutionary transitions, and the structure and function of ecological communities. Yet, much remains unknown about the patterns and processes that characterise symbioses. A major unanswered question is the extent to which symbiont phylogenies mirror those of their hosts and if patterns differ for parasites and mutualists. Addressing this question offers fundamental insights into evolutionary processes, such as whether symbionts typically codiverge with their hosts or if diversity is generated via host switches. Here, we perform a meta-analysis of host-symbiont phylogenetic congruence, encompassing 212 host-symbiont cophylogenetic studies that include ~10,000 species. Our analysis supersedes previous qualitative assessments by utilising a quantitative framework. We show that symbiont phylogeny broadly reflects host phylogeny across biodiversity and life-history, demonstrating a general pattern of phylogenetic congruence in host-symbiont interactions. We reveal two key aspects of symbiont life-history that promote closer ties between hosts and symbionts: vertical transmission and mutualism. Mode of symbiosis and mode of transmission are intimately interlinked, but vertical transmission is the dominant factor. Given the pervasiveness of symbioses, these findings provide important insights into the processes responsible for generating and maintaining the Earth's rich biodiversity.
共生关系具有重要的生物学影响，对疾病、主要进化转折点以及生态群落的结构和功能具有重要的进化和生态相关性。然而，对于共生关系的特征模式和过程，我们仍知之甚少。一个主要的未解决问题是共生体的系统发育在多大程度上反映了它们宿主的系统发育，以及寄生虫和互利共生体的模式是否不同。解决这个问题为进化过程提供了基本的见解，例如共生体是否通常与宿主共同进化，或者多样性是否通过宿主转换产生。在这里，我们对宿主-共生体系统发育的一致性进行了荟萃分析，其中包括 212 个宿主-共生体共进化研究，涵盖了约 10000 个物种。我们的分析利用定量框架取代了以前的定性评估。我们表明，共生体的系统发育在生物多样性和生活史中广泛反映了宿主的系统发育，这表明了宿主-共生体相互作用中普遍存在的系统发育一致性模式。我们揭示了共生体生活史的两个关键方面，这促进了宿主和共生体之间更紧密的联系：垂直传播和互利共生。共生体的传播模式和共生方式密切相关，但垂直传播是主要因素。鉴于共生关系的普遍性，这些发现为产生和维持地球丰富的生物多样性的过程提供了重要的见解。
