17Symbiotic associations impact and are impacted by their surrounding ecosystem. The 18 association between Burkholderia bacteria and the soil amoeba Dictyostelium 19 discoideum is a tractable model to unravel the biology underlying symbiont-endowed 20 phenotypes and their impacts. Several Burkholderia species stably associate with D. 21 discoideum and typically reduce host fitness in food-rich environments while increasing 22 fitness in food-scarce environments. Burkholderia symbionts are themselves inedible to 23 their hosts but induce co-infections with secondary bacteria that can serve as a food 24 source. Thus, Burkholderia hosts are "farmers" that carry food bacteria to new 25 environments, providing a benefit when food is scarce. We examined the ability of 26 specific Burkholderia genotypes to induce secondary co-infections and assessed host 27 fitness under a range of co-infection conditions and environmental contexts. Although all 28Burkholderia symbionts intracellularly infected Dictyostelium, we found that co-infections 29 are predominantly extracellular, suggesting that farming benefits are derived from 30 extracellular infection of host structures. Furthermore, levels of secondary infection are 31 linked to conditional host fitness; B. agricolaris infected hosts have the highest level of 32 co-infection and have the highest fitness in food scarce environments. This study 33 illuminates the phenomenon of co-infection induction across Dictyostelium associated 34Burkholderia species and exemplifies the contextual complexity of these associations.
Symbiotic associations impact and are impacted by their surrounding ecosystem. The association between Burkholderia bacteria and the soil amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum is a tractable model to unravel the biology underlying symbiont-endowed phenotypes and their impacts. Several Burkholderia species stably associate with D. discoideum and typically reduce host fitness in food-rich environments while increasing fitness in food-scarce environments. Burkholderia symbionts are themselves inedible to their hosts but induce co-infections with secondary bacteria that can serve as a food source. Thus, Burkholderia hosts are “farmers” that carry food bacteria to new environments, providing a benefit when food is scarce. We examined the ability of specific Burkholderia genotypes to induce secondary co-infections and assessed host fitness under a range of co-infection conditions and environmental contexts. Although all Burkholderia symbionts intracellularly infected Dictyostelium, we found that co-infections are predominantly extracellular, suggesting that farming benefits are derived from extracellular infection of host structures. Furthermore, levels of secondary infection are linked to conditional host fitness; B. agricolaris infected hosts have the highest level of co-infection and have the highest fitness in food-scarce environments. This study illuminates the phenomenon of co-infection induction across Dictyostelium associated Burkholderia species and exemplifies the contextual complexity of these associations.
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