Bizarria Rodolfo, Pietrobon Tatiane de Castro, Kooij Pepijn W, Rodrigues Andre
São Paulo State University (UNESP), institute of Biosciences, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil.
Environ Microbiol Rep. 2025 Aug;17(4):e70157. doi: 10.1111/1758-2229.70157.
Facultative mutualisms, such as some insect-yeast interactions, can be established between partners that only interact in certain stages of their life cycles. While exploring yeasts associated with Brazilian beetles, we found a particular Cyberlindnera yeast associated with Spermophthorus apuleiae. This yeast was found within the beetles' galleries, which are excavated in fruits of Libidibia ferrea, a native Brazilian tree. We isolated a total of 15 yeast and yeast-like species associated with the fruits and beetles, mostly from the orders Phaffomycetales and Serinales, and explored their role in yeast-beetle interactions. Cyberlindnera is the most recurrent yeast, found in 90% of the fruit samples infested with beetles and representing 79% of the total isolates. Results from bioassays support the interaction between Cyberlindnera and Spermophthorus apuleiae. We hypothesise that reciprocal benefits may underlie this association: beetle gallery excavation boosts the density of Cyberlindnera in fruits, while the yeast produces attractive volatiles to beetles. These volatiles are usually associated with signalling towards sugar resources that enhance dispersal, an idea that warrants further exploration. We consider the Cyberlindnera-beetle association a potential model for studying the ecology and evolution of non-obligate (facultative) mutualisms.
兼性互利共生关系，比如一些昆虫与酵母的相互作用，可以在仅在其生命周期特定阶段相互作用的伙伴之间建立。在探索与巴西甲虫相关的酵母时，我们发现了一种与阿氏精子象甲相关的特定嗜杀酵母属酵母。这种酵母是在甲虫的虫道内发现的，这些虫道是在巴西本土树木铁刀木的果实中挖掘出来的。我们总共分离出了15种与果实和甲虫相关的酵母及酵母样物种，大多来自德巴利酵母目和丝孢酵母目，并探究了它们在酵母与甲虫相互作用中的作用。嗜杀酵母属是最常见的酵母，在90%受甲虫侵染的果实样本中被发现，占分离出的所有菌株的79%。生物测定结果支持了嗜杀酵母属与阿氏精子象甲之间的相互作用。我们推测这种关联可能存在互惠互利：甲虫挖掘虫道提高了果实中嗜杀酵母属的密度，而酵母会产生吸引甲虫的挥发性物质。这些挥发性物质通常与指向促进扩散的糖分资源的信号有关，这一观点值得进一步探索。我们认为嗜杀酵母属与甲虫的关联是研究非专性（兼性）互利共生关系的生态和进化的一个潜在模型。
