Endosymbiont

Twentieth Microbial Advent Calendar! Can you believe it? Today we have a look at another insect-bacteria symbiosis: the rice weevil. We saw this month that insect often establish symbiosis with bacteria. Symbiotic bacteria can play important roles in the life of insects affecting their reproduction, complementing their diet, increasing their resistance…

We continue the Microbial Advent Calendar with Leeches, and of course, they have bacteria to help them digest blood! Before continuing any further we have to take a mandatory Wes Anderson's Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou stop. Please enjoy the gif on your right. Now we can proceed. Like many…

Yesterday was the first blog post about our "Wolbachia Special" in the Microbial Advent Calendar. Today we have a look at the other side of the story. In some cases, Wolbachia infections can be beneficial to their host. Some help the host resist viral infection, increase lifespan or fecundity while others…