The field of microbiome research is arguably one of the fastest growing in biology. Bacteria
feature prominently in studies on animal health, but fungi appear to be the more prominent …

Understanding the coevolution of hosts and parasites is a long‐standing goal of
evolutionary biology. There is a well‐developed theoretical framework to describe the …

Ecologically important traits of insects are often affected by facultative bacterial
endosymbionts. This is best studied in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum, which is …

Most insects harbour influential, yet non‐essential heritable microbes in their hemocoel.
Communities of these symbionts exhibit low diversity. But their frequent multi‐species nature …

While it has become increasingly clear that multicellular organisms often harbor microbial
symbionts that protect their hosts against natural enemies, the mechanistic underpinnings …

Vertically transmitted symbionts that protect their hosts against parasites and pathogens are
well known from insects, yet the underlying mechanisms of symbiont-mediated defense are …

Highlights•Multiple strains of the heritable bacterium, Spiroplasma, protect insects against
infection by natural enemies.•Defensive capabilities are broad, impacting parasitic …

Obligate symbioses involving intracellular bacteria have transformed eukaryotic life, from
providing aerobic respiration and photosynthesis to enabling colonization of previously …

Facultative, heritable endosymbionts are found at intermediate prevalence within most
insect species, playing frequent roles in their hosts' defence against environmental …

Archaea are widespread in marine sediments, but their occurrence and relationship with
natural salinity gradients in estuarine sediments is not well understood. This study …