Covering: through 2014 Many organisms team up with microbes for defense against
predators, parasites, parasitoids, or pathogens. Here we review the described protective …

Many animals depend on microbial symbionts to provide nutrition, defence or other services.
Holometabolous insects, as well as other animals that undergo metamorphosis, face unique …

The sterile womb paradigm is an enduring premise in biology that human infants are born
sterile. Recent studies suggest that infants incorporate an initial microbiome before birth and …

Studies of newly emerged Apis mellifera worker bees have demonstrated that their guts are
colonized by a consistent core microbiota within several days of eclosure. We conducted …

Previous surveys have shown that adult honeybee (Apis mellifera) workers harbor a
characteristic gut microbiota that may play a significant role in bee health. For three major …

The honey bee is a key pollinator species in decline worldwide. As part of a commercial
operation, bee colonies are exposed to a variety of agricultural ecosystems throughout the …

Diverse bacterial lineages form beneficial infections with eukaryotic hosts. The origins,
evolution, and breakdown of these mutualisms represent important evolutionary transitions …

In invertebrates, the cuticle is the first and major protective barrier against predators and
pathogen infections. While immune responses and behavioral defenses are also known to …

Symbioses with microbes play a pivotal role in the evolutionary success of insects, and can
lead to intimate host–symbiont associations. However, how the host maintains a stable …

Mutualistic microorganisms are well known to play a key role in providing nutrients for
successful growth and reproduction in many insects. Several recent studies indicate that …