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COST Action 819: Entomopathogenic nematodes, supercedes Action 812: Cold active lines of insect parasitic nematodes in Agriculture and Biotechnology. It functions in the field of Agriculture and Biotechnology and began in July 1994 and will end in May, 1999. The main objective is to combine interrelated European expertise to increase the use of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) in integrated pest management and to reduce the need for chemical control. Coordination of the Action is the responsibility of a management committee in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding, which has been signed by representatives of 17 countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. A research institute in Israel is also participating. Over 40 research institutions and 10 commercial companies participate in Action 819. The EU funding meets the costs related to coordination including the scientific secretariat, workshops, management committee and working group meetings, publications, short term scientific missions and evaluations.

Summary -The entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) Heterorhabditis and Steinernema together with their symbiont bacteriaPhotorhabdus and Xenorhabdus, respectively, are obligate and lethal parasites of insects. EPN can provide effective biological control of some important lepidopteran, dipteran and coleopteran pests of commercial crops and they are amenable to large-scale culture in liquid fermentors. They are unique among rhabditids in having a symbiotic relationship with an enteric bacterium species. The bacterial symbiont is required to kill the insect host and to digest the host tissues, thereby providing suitable nutrient conditions for nematode growth and development. This review describes the general biology of EPN and their symbionts and gives an overview of studies to date on EPN biodiversity, biogeography and phylogeny. The impetus for research in EPN and their symbionts has come about because of their biological control potential, with much of the focus in EPN research having been on applied aspects relating to pest control. However EPN and their symbionts are increasingly being viewed as exciting subjects for basic research in the areas of ecology, biodiversity, evolution, biochemistry, symbiosis and molecular genetics. Much progress has been made over the past 20 years in our understanding of the basic biology and genetics of EPN and their symbionts. We are now entering a new phase in which the tools of molecular genetics are being increasingly used to address a range of biological questions in EPN research. The knowledge gained from this endeavour should ensure that EPN will become even more effective biopesticides and should also ensure that EPN and their symbionts gain prominence as unique and intrinsically interesting biological systems.Résumé -Heterorhabditis, Steinernema et leurs symbiotes bactériens -Pathogènes mortels des insectes -Les nématodes entomopathogènes (EPN) Heterorhabditis et Steinernema, avec leur bactéries symbiotes Photorhabdus et Xenorhabdus, respectivement, sont des parasites obligés et mortels des insectes. Les EPN peuvent servir à un contrôle biologique de quelques lépidoptères, diptères et coléoptères importants pour les cultures commerciales et ils sont élevables à grande échelle dans des fermenteurs liquides. Ils sont uniques chez les rhabditides par leur relation symbiotique avec une espèce de bactérie entérique. La bactérie symbiote est nécessaire pour tuer l'insecte hôte et pour digérer les tissus de l'hôte, permettant ainsi des conditons de nutrition favorables à la croissance et au développement du nématode. La présente revue décrit la biologie générale des EPN et de leur symbiotes et donne un état des études actuelles sur la biodiversité, la biogéographie et la phylogénie des EPN. L'impulsion donnée aux recherches sur les EPN et leur symbiotes provient de leur potentialités pour le contrôle biologique, une grande partie des recherches sur les EPN ayant trait à des aspects appliqués en relation avec ce contrôle des parasites. Cependant, les EPN et leur symbiotes bactérie...

Microbial symbionts provide benefits that contribute to the ecology and fitness of host plants and animals. Therefore, the evolutionary success of plants and animals fundamentally depends on long-term maintenance of beneficial associations. Most work investigating coevolution and symbiotic maintenance has focused on species-level associations, and studies are lacking that assess the impact of bacterial strain diversity on symbiotic associations within a coevolutionary framework. Here, we demonstrate that fitness in mutualism varies depending on bacterial strain identity, and this is consistent with variation shaping phylogenetic patterns and maintenance through fitness benefits. Through genome sequencing of nine bacterial symbiont strains and cophylogenetic analysis, we demonstrate diversity among Xenorhabdus bovienii bacteria. Further, we identified cocladogenesis between Steinernema feltiae nematode hosts and their corresponding X. bovienii symbiont strains, indicating potential specificity within the association. To test the specificity, we performed laboratory crosses of nematode hosts with native and nonnative symbiont strains, which revealed that combinations with the native bacterial symbiont and closely related strains performed significantly better than those with more divergent symbionts. Through genomic analyses we also defined potential factors contributing to specificity between nematode hosts and bacterial symbionts. These results suggest that strain-level diversity (e.g., subspecies-level differences) in microbial symbionts can drive variation in the success of host-microbe associations, and this suggests that these differences in symbiotic success could contribute to maintenance of the symbiosis over an evolutionary time scale.