On the host-symbiont-natural enemy interaction: from parasitism to mutualism

Abstract

The study of evolution of ecological interactions is a key topic in evolutionary ecology. Symbiosis is the association between two organisms of different species, ranging from a parasitic to a mutualistic interaction. This study aims a better understanding of the mutualistic effect of endosymbiont bacterias on the host-symbiont-natural enemy interactions through two different approaches. 1) it is known that although a symbiotic interaction can be costly to the host, the benefits offered by the symbiont can overcome this cost. Here we propose a meta-analysis in order to verify the cost on fitness of the individuals involved in the interaction and how great is the protection effect when comparing different systems; 2) wolbachia presence can influence the selection over antiviral genes codified by the host. However, there is no information on how host antiviral genes can affect the keeping and the dispersal of the symbiont, so one of our goals is to test such influence on experimental populations. The comparison of the effect of different pathogens over the symbiont-generated resistance in different systems, as well as the study on the effect of genotype and selective pressures caused by the presence of pathogens in ecological aspects of the symbiont are important questions for an integrated understanding of processes involved in interspecific ecological interactions. (AU)