Insects engage in intimate associations with microbial symbionts that colonize their digestive systems or internal cells and tissues. The stability and near ubiquity of many of these "symbioses" implies their importance, a prediction supported through experimentation. With the advancing power of experimental methodologies and the growing accessibility of genomic techniques, insect science has reached a powerful new stage enabling the study of previously recalcitrant symbioses, including several with medical and agricultural significance. In this volume we publish a collection of chapters focused on the physiology of insect-microbe symbioses, emphasizing their mechanistic underpinnings, and the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of these interactions. Resident microbes modulate insect digestion, nutrition, detoxification, reproduction, interspecies signaling, and host-parasite interactions, and these chapters synthesize impactful, state-of-the art research on insect-microbe symbioses. Through discussions of the mechanisms that both stabilize and regulate these symbioses, these chapters yield further insight into the physiological integration between many insects and their influential microbial partners.
1. Cover image - p. page_i 2. Title page - p. page_i 3. Table of Contents - p. page_i 4. Copyright - p. page_iv 5. Contributors - p. page_ix 6. Chapter One: Mechanisms underlying microbial symbiosis - p. page_ix 7. Chapter Two: Host-symbiont specificity in insects: Underpinning mechanisms and evolution - p. page_25 8. Chapter Three: Symbiont-mediated degradation of dietary carbon sources in social herbivorous insects - p. page_62 9. Chapter Four: Microbial symbionts of herbivorous species across the insect tree - p. page_109 10. Chapter Five: Symbiotic solutions to nitrogen limitation and amino acid imbalance in insect diets - p. page_159 11. Chapter Six: Regulation of an insect symbiosis - p. page_205 12. Chapter Seven: Functions and mechanisms of symbionts of insect disease vectors - p. page_232 13. Chapter Eight: Toxin-mediated protection against natural enemies by insect defensive symbionts - p. page_275 14. Chapter Nine: The saboteur's tools: Common mechanistic themes across manipulative symbioses - p. page_316
Insects engage in intimate associations with microbial symbionts that colonize their digestive systems or internal cells and tissues. The stability and near ubiquity of many of these "symbioses" implies their importance, a prediction supported through experimentation. With the advancing power of experimental methodologies and the growing accessibility of genomic techniques, insect science has reached a powerful new stage enabling the study of previously recalcitrant symbioses, including several with medical and agricultural significance. In this volume we publish a collection of chapters focused on the physiology of insect-microbe symbioses, emphasizing their mechanistic underpinnings, and the ecological and evolutionary causes and consequences of these interactions. Resident microbes modulate insect digestion, nutrition, detoxification, reproduction, interspecies signaling, and host-parasite interactions, and these chapters synthesize impactful, state-of-the art research on insect-microbe symbioses. Through discussions of the mechanisms that both stabilize and regulate these symbioses, these chapters yield further insight into the physiological integration between many insects and their influential microbial partners.
1. Cover image - p. page_i 2. Title page - p. page_i 3. Table of Contents - p. page_i 4. Copyright - p. page_iv 5. Contributors - p. page_ix 6. Chapter One: Mechanisms underlying microbial symbiosis - p. page_ix 7. Chapter Two: Host-symbiont specificity in insects: Underpinning mechanisms and evolution - p. page_25 8. Chapter Three: Symbiont-mediated degradation of dietary carbon sources in social herbivorous insects - p. page_62 9. Chapter Four: Microbial symbionts of herbivorous species across the insect tree - p. page_109 10. Chapter Five: Symbiotic solutions to nitrogen limitation and amino acid imbalance in insect diets - p. page_159 11. Chapter Six: Regulation of an insect symbiosis - p. page_205 12. Chapter Seven: Functions and mechanisms of symbionts of insect disease vectors - p. page_232 13. Chapter Eight: Toxin-mediated protection against natural enemies by insect defensive symbionts - p. page_275 14. Chapter Nine: The saboteur's tools: Common mechanistic themes across manipulative symbioses - p. page_316
